


Pokémon 20

by GhostHNW



Series: Fanfic Universe [1]
Category: Pocket Monsters | Pokemon - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, Best Friends, Childhood Friends, F/F, F/M, Friendship, Gen, Multi, Original Fiction, Original Universe, Real-Life Brand, Superpower?, Writer, part of a larger universe
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-03-02
Updated: 2019-10-28
Packaged: 2019-11-08 00:36:13
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 12
Words: 38,788
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17971109
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/GhostHNW/pseuds/GhostHNW
Summary: It's been two years since Misty met her childhood friend. For so long, she might have missed them so much despite her writing career are going strong. But when May unexpectedly comes to the university as an exchange student,  Misty's mundane life turns upside down as she has now can retie her long lost relationship with May, alongside her university friend, Sam, Aria and Jacob.But something is not right. Suddenly, she has been entangled into a mysterious experiment that spans multiple timelines and universe. So now, not only she had a problem internally but also externally. How can she balance it? Can she retire her friendship once again? What lies the secret of 'Experiment 27'?





	1. The Reunion

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first of the 'Fanfic Universe' series, maybe a trilogy. This series Is also part of a complex anthology series that spans not only fanfic but also original works by me.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Misty finished her latest stories, she is finally goes to bed earlier than she used to. The next day, Misty goes to the cafe with her friends, Sam and Aria, who is also her next-door neighbor. After she gives an autograph to her fan, Sam suddenly become frustrated to Misty and leave the cafe. After realizing that the exchanged student program she volunteers to is about to start, she quickly goes back to the university and made it just in time for the program to start.  
> When she interviews her new roommate, she acted strangely. In fact, she knows every tidbits of her life, even her childhood days. It soon to be revealed to be her childhood friend whom she hasn't met for a long time, May. Two childhood friends are finally reunited in the most unexpected way.

     It's past 9 o'clock. Misty is still typing on her laptop. As her finger swiftly presses every necessary key on the keyboard, she only focuses on the screen where every new word is typed. Some of the sentences she was dissatisfied with, so she deletes the sentence entirely or remakes some of the words. The only light source from the room is the table lamp and the brightness of the laptop's screen. She stops for a while and crushed her first together to make multiple ‘pops'. She then continues her typing.  
     She is about to finish another sentence. After typing the last letter, her middle finger swiftly moves to a key with a single dot in the middle and presses it. The dot appears on the screen, thus finishing the sentence. Then, she stops. She moves her hand away from the laptop while admiring her newly-finished work. All she needs is a little check and she's done. She saves her work before closing the application and presses the ‘power button’. After the screen went black, she slowly closes her laptop and places it aside. She then picks up her phone and opens it. She swipes her finger on the screen and opens an application called Twitter. There, she reads some of her replies from her previous post.  
     One reply caught her attention. A fan asks Misty to write a full-fledged novel. This makes Misty a little nervous since she never writes a novel for the past two years. But, she always up for a challenge. She retweets the replies and types a little comment. She closes her phone and places it back to where she last put it and raise up from the chair. She stretches her arms and legs to release the ‘stress’. She looks at the clock. It's almost midnight. She dives onto the bed and tucks herself inside the blanket. She looks up at the ceiling, thinking what would she do after this? Should she immediately starts her novel or give herself a time to rest for a new idea? She moves her body to the left side. There, the light from the lamp illuminates the surrounding area, letting her see a picture.  
     She only smiles as she grabs the frame closer to her. In the picture of her with her groups of friends, smiling while doing the ‘peace’ hand at the camera. For Misty, it only seems like yesterday when the picture takes place. Those days went by without even her knowing. An ocean of nostalgic feelings overwhelms her mind as a tear starts flowing from her eyes to her cheek and finally soaking into the bedsheet. Misty wipes the tears away and put the picture back.  
     “I wonder what all of you are doing right now, ” she mutters. She closes the light and goes to sleep, waiting for the next morning to come.  
     Morning has come again. The cars start to appear on the street of this city as people wake up to greet ‘Good morning' to the world. The trees return with its leaves, now growing healthy after shedding itself for the winter. Birds come out of their hole and greet the mornings with its harmonious chirp. Misty, on the other hand, is still sleeping. Probably due to her being exhausted, she sleeps in a weird position. Her mouth opens wide, letting the saliva out from her mouth. Her hair is all but messy and her pajamas are full of wrinkles.  
     After a while, she finally wakes up. Her eyes slump with two large, boat-shaped spots created under her eyes. Her eyes adjusted the sharpness of her vision like a camera. After she gets a clear view, she yawns and starches her back while moisturizing her lips. She then slips her feet into a fluffy flip-flop. She rubs her eyes before rises herself from the bed. After a little stretch, she walks slowly to the bathroom. She takes off her pajamas and grabs her towel. After taking a shower, she grabs her towel and washes before wraps the towel around. She takes another one and wraps that towel on her hair, twisting it to make a beehive shape. She steps out of her shower booth and grabs the toothbrush to brush her teeth. She walks back to the bedroom and opens the cupboard. She swipes between clothes before taking out her usual outfit of a yellow-T-shirt and jeans. And, I wouldn't talk about what will happen next. So, I will let your imagination go wild for this if you're a pervert. Anyway, back to the story. With her clothes and her jacket on, she unplugs her phone from the charger before walking out of the bedroom. Once at the kitchen, she opens the refrigerator and takes out her loaves of bread. She places two slices of bread into the toaster and waits while the toaster does its thing. She grabs the plate and then, places it on the table. The toast pops up with the ding. She quickly grabs one toast and puts it on the plate before do it again to the other toast.  
     She eats one of the toast while looking at her retweet last night. In a single night, her retweet gains a lot of replies like a storm. Many expressed excitement and joy when she announced she may write her first novel. She reads a few replies;

‘I'm so excited!’

‘She will finally do it. Kudos to Misty!’

‘#OurWishesComesTrue’

‘I was surprised to see this retweet. I am happy to see her doing something new. I hope things go well for her.’

     That last reply put a smile on her face. She closes her phone and put it on the table. While still chewing on her toast, someone knocks on the door. She quickly walks toward the door and opens the door while holding her half-eaten toast. Behind the door is a man and a woman, her friends, Sam and Aria. Sam is a handsome blonde girl magnet with his powerful azure blue eyes while Aria is her friends and next-door neighbor.  
     “What are you doing here?” asked Misty.  
     “Didn’t you forget something? We're supposed to hang out to the café today. Remember?” Misty’s eyes widen with disbelief of her short memory loss. She asks them to stay there before buzzed back to her bedroom. She unplugs her laptop and put it into her bag. After that, she wears the bag on her shoulder and grabs her phone before locking her apartment's door goes out with Sam and Aria.  
     Their favorite hang-out spot, Fris's Café isn't really that far from the university. In fact, it's located on Dennis Street, which is near to the university. Dennis's Street is always populated with people, either local or tourist because many restaurants are situated on this street. Stall are scattered around this long, wide street, selling all kinds of things from food to toys and even some offers balloon. Fris's Café is one of those lucky ones as, again, due to the close proximity to the universities, it became a hot spot for university students and some teachers alike.  
     They enter the café and as usual, are jam-packed with people from all over the region. Misty and Aria take a seat at Table 7 while Sam is ordering at the counter. She takes out her laptop from her bag, opens and began doing some checking on spelling and grammar. This concerned Aria as she fears someone might snatch her laptop and due to her popularity, maybe sold it to another person with high value.  
     "I don't think you should bring your laptop. Maybe someone would steal it away," Aria expressed her concern. Misty reassures her that she will take good care of it before returning to re-check her work. When Sam comes back, he isn't too happy to see Misty typing on that laptop again.  
     "You really need to take a break, Misty. You will have a sore eye if you keep doing it." Misty is so focused on her work, she didn't pay attention to Sam's warning. Suddenly, he walks toward Misty and snatches her laptop away from her, which greatly annoyed Misty. She tries to get it back from Sam but he put her laptop back inside her bag and zip it.  
     "Why did you that for?!" Misty questioned Sam.  
     "Why don't you take a break from that and just focus on our hang-out?"  
     "I was about to finish checking my work."  
     "Not here." Their argument attracts some unwanted attention. Some of the customers pull out their phones and record their arguments without them knowing. Aria tries to calm both of them down before it's escalated quickly. But, Sam is too frustrated with Misty until he goes to the counter and asks the cashier to cancel his order before storms out of the café in a fit of rage. After the whole argument, Misty sits at the chair again.  
     "What is his problem?" said Misty. Aria only shakes her head, also confused about his sudden fit of rage. But, she tells Misty that he's been like that from last week. Misty thinks deeply about Sam. Aria is right. Sam hasn't really like himself last week. He seems a little agitated and always angry for no reason at all. Like what one of her professors said, he seems to have a mental breakdown for no reason at all.  
     After a while, their order has arrived. She takes a sip of her latte while Aria slurps on her iced bubble tea. After a few adjustments, she has finally finished her latest work. She shares the link of her work to Twitter, Facebook, and her own personal blog. All of a sudden, many of the customers, and even some at the outside checks on their phone instantaneously. She looks at her watch. It's past 10 in the morning.  
     Her eyes widen. She quickly finished up her latte and said goodbye to Aria before pack her laptop into her bag and hurriedly scurry off the café, leaving Aria in the back, still with her almost finished iced bubble tea in her hand. She runs all the way back to the university, climbing up the grand stairs and into a long corridor before reaching to a room with the volunteers are waiting. She made it just in time as the teacher tells them to come in. Inside the room lies a line of curtains hanging to, quote from the principal; "to make an unexpected surprised."  
     Misty sits on her chair reserved for her and places her laptop at the side of the chair. After all of the volunteer takes their respective seat, they hear a crowd of footsteps coming from the other side. Some are really happy and anticipated to see their new roommate. First, as a tradition, they start off with a conversation like a Q&A session. One by one, except for their name, which is forbidden, they get to know a little about themselves. Finally, it's Misty's turn. She takes a deep breath before asking her mysterious roommate about her past-time. Oddly, she doesn't answer.  
     'Maybe, she's a shy type. I should tell her about my past-time." she thought. She tells to the mysterious person that her past-time is writing. Suddenly, the mysterious person speaks, in a genuine female voice, "I know your favorite past-time." This answer shocked Misty. How did she know? Maybe she tries to troll as the other guy did to one of the volunteers. She tries to ask another question.  
     "How about your favorite color?"  
     "Green, " she answers.  
     "Ok, then."  
     "And your favorite color is yellow, isn't it?" Misty is surprised to hear her answer. How did she know about her favorite color? Misty starts to get suspicious of this student. First, she knows her past-time and her favorite color. This time, as a test for her, she asks her one difficult question.  
     "What is my mother's name?"  
     "I think that's enough." But Misty still determine to know how far she knows her. She asks the question again.  
     "I don't know..." Misty seems a little disappointed because she thought she might know her from social media.  
     "Unless, of course, you are expecting that. In fact, I know pretty much everything about you, even about your childhood friend."  
     "Like what?"  
     "Your mother loves to plant in your backyard while your father works as a mechanic. I even know the treehouse you used to go to is in my backyard. We talk about certain someone and others. I also know our secret password before entering our treehouse." Her suspicion has raised even higher. Not only she knows her mother loves to plant but she knows her father's occupation and the secret password. Then, she decides to utter the secret password.  
     "What's better with lilacs?" Misty said the first part of their secret password.  
     "Nothing other than roses." Misty is flabbergasted.  She knows the secret password. The entire room becomes a gossip room as people whispers to each other about her 'supernatural' abilities/power. Fearing Misty might spoil the  'surprise', the teacher immediately tells everyone that it's time for the reveal. The gossip instantly diminished within second and instead return to anticipation. Even Misty has to put her suspicion aside.  
     One by one, the curtain opens, revealing their eventual partner. Some give a high five while others give a hug. Finally, it's Misty's turn. She stands in front of the curtain, waiting to meet her new roommate. But, before the curtain opens, the mysterious student requests that Misty should be blindfold for the surprise. Misty wants to protests her idea but for the 'surprise', she agrees to be blindfold.  
     After blindfolding, the curtain opens to reveal it everyone but Misty. She comes closer to Misty and manually removes the blindfold. Misty looks up to see her mysterious girl. She has a shock of her life. She looks at her in disbelief as if it's like a dream. She wants to tell something but too dumbfounded by the revelation to even speak a single word.  
     "Hello, Misty, " said the girl.  
     "May?!" Misty finally utters. May quickly hugs Misty. Misty burst into tears as she hugs May back. She can't believe her own eyes. Her once lost memories have come again. For the longest time ever since the separation of the Pallet Gang, she never would think that one of her childhood friends returns into her life as her new roommate.  
     May pats Misty's head as to comfort Misty from her unexpected reunion. Two childhood friend has reunited once again.

_End Of Chapter 1_


	2. Friend On The  Same Space

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misty and May go back to Misty's apartment after the program. Misty wonders what university she once studies before transferring here. So, she asks May about it. She was shocked to learn that she's a student of her university's biggest rival, Cerulean University. Even though she doesn't want an ex-student of Cerulean University to be her roommate, she makes an exception for May.  
> While looking at her new bedroom, May's phone suddenly rang. She picks up the call, reveals to be Misty's other childhood friend, Dawn. After a little conversation with Dawn, Misty went into a fit of rage as she can't think of an idea for her new novel. When Sam comes to visit to apologize for his action yesterday, Misty finally have an idea for the novel she's waiting to write.

     After transferring all of May's bag back to Misty's apartment, they both sit down on the couch, feeling exhausted, especially Misty. Misty takes a little glance at May before, unknowingly, gets up again and walks to the refrigerator. She takes out two soda cans and shows one of them to May if she's interested. With a nod, Misty takes the soda cans back to the couch. She gives the other soda can to May and after opening it up, gives a little toast and drink. Misty takes a little gulp and places it on the table while May is still holding the can. May thanks Misty for a soda.  
     "So, how's your time at your university?"  asked Misty.  
     "Not really that bad. Although I don't feel the spirit of my university by the students itself. They have just don't really care about it."  
     "Which university you were studying?"  
     "Cerulean University. Why do you ask?" That name sickens her. Cerulean is considered to be VCU's biggest rivalries, everyone knows that. In fact, a lot of people only watch the matches between these universities. May thinks that she can't feel the spirit of the university because they only reserved for competition, especially sports competition. Furthermore, nobody even cheers when they are not playing against each other and, instead, playing with the other university. Misty can't even believe her childhood friend is the student of that 'horrible' university. HECK, she even tells Sam and Aria that she doesn't want her roommate to be a now ex-student of Cerulean University. But she felt that she made an exception for May as she knows her all the way back to their time growing up at Pallet Town.  
     "Nothing. I just want to know."  
     "Ok then."  
     After lunch, May walks to her new bedroom, which is adjacent to the bathroom and opposite to Misty's bedroom. Back when Misty came to this apartment, she barely uses the room at all, leaving it dusty and full of cobweb. The wall is barely painted to replace the already scrape wall. The floor is full of collected dust, making the wood on the floor almost covered. But, ever since Misty volunteers for the program, she cleaned up this room along with Sam, Aria and sometimes, Aria's roommate, June. And now, the room is well furnished and colored. Although May doesn't really like the color she used, she decides to not tells Misty to changes as to not for her time on painting the wall going to waste. Misty walks and stands next to her after she finishes cleaning the dishes. She really appreciates the result of it although she didn't like the color she chooses for this room. And it even makes it worse since May will live here. She feels like she wants to changes the color. She asks May about the room.  
     "I love it!" said May. Misty breathes a sigh of relief as she appreciates the room pretty much. May only smiles at her reaction to her answer.  
     "I'm glad for that answer."  
     "Why is that?" May acts dumb.  
     "Umm...uhh...n...nn...nothing at all! I just glad you like it." May expects that kind of reaction, so she smiles and even has a little giggle.  
     "So, when do you start writing that novel? I saw your retweet," said May. Misty feels a little anxious when she mentions about the retweet. She hasn't had any idea about her new novel. In fact, she hasn't tell May about what the idea is. She only stutters and spoke a few nonsensical words. May correctly guess that she is struggling to think of an idea.  
     "You see, I haven't thought of an idea for my first novel yet. I want to take a little rest before I write it."  
     "Oh, ok then!" May seems to understand the problem she is facing. Suddenly, out of the blue, May's handphone ring. She picks up her phone to see who is calling. May looks a little surprised when she sees who is calling her right now, sparking curiosity from Misty. She asks May about the person. Instead of telling her who, she picks up the phone call and starts chattering with that person.  
     "Hey, Dawn. How's your day?" Even by mentioning the name shocks Misty. Dawn?! She is quite surprised to know that May is still in touch with, at least, one of their friends at Pallet Town. As they keep chattering, Misty thinks over her memories with Dawn. Dawn is usually the helpful girl, always with May, who is the shy one. Despite Misty is more preferable to write than being a science geek like Dawn, they go together hand in hand, although they do sometimes have some argument.  
     "Um...Dawn, I want to show you to someone."  
     "Your roommate? Tell me your roommate is a guy." Misty never recall at any time, back in their childhood days, that she likes a guy before. Maybe she is just too focused on her studies. Indeed, Misty feels a little odd for Dawn. She doesn't feel like she was the Dawn that she knew before. Gee, time does really fly fast.  
     "Not really. But this is better."  
     "Show me." She put her phone call into a video call. After that, May turns her phone around so Misty gets to see Dawn again for the first time. Dawn is surprised and even gasps when she sees Misty. She just can't believe she ever saw another childhood friend in her lifetime. Misty only shyly said 'Hello' to Dawn as she still gasps in disbelief.  
     "Tell me you're joking. Tell me you're joking," Dawn talks.  
     "Misty, it's really that you?" Misty shyly nods her head.  
     "How's it been? I haven't seen you for a long time."  
     "Yeah, I know. How's yours?"  
     "It's fine actually. Things go fine to me. I have been offered a job as a scientist for a secret project."  
     "What is this 'secret project'?"  
     "Can't tell you. It's classified." They all laugh.  
     "Well, it's time for me to go. See you soon then."  
     "Take care, Dawn." She waves back at Misty before the call ended. She places her phone back into her pocket.  
     "Could you help me bring my bag into here?" May needs help.  
     "Sure."

     It's 9 p.m. on Misty's alarm clock. She stares at the laptop's blank screen while thinking about any genius idea for her novel. And so do May as she, too, thanks for something on her bed. Not only that, May should take care of Misty now that she has her career going. She has been stress a lot because she needs to balance her studies and her writing career. It is even strengthened when Misty told her that she even barely have a good night's sleep. Suddenly, she hears a loud scream coming from Misty's room. She quickly runs toward Misty and asks her if she's ok. She sees Misty repeatedly bunk her head onto her desk in frustration.  
     "Are you okay, Misty? You look awful." Misty raises her head slowly and looks at May with a blank expression. Then, she cuddles her arm onto her face and began a slow-pitch fit of rage. She stomps her feet and releases an angry sigh. May feels a little concern, so she sits next to Misty and tells her some ideas that she came up with. Despite her idea are indeed unique and creative, she rejects all of them, giving reason such being too cliche, too uninspiring or even makes the reader feels bored.  
     Suddenly, someone knocks on the door. Misty hurriedly goes to the door and opens to know who is visiting at this time. Surprisingly, it's Sam, the one whom she had an argument with back at the cafe and storms off.  
     "Sam. What are you doing here?"  
     "Look, I came here to apologize about yesterday. I was too emotional at that time. I'm sorry."  
     "Apology accepted."  
     "Great! When do we meet again?"  
     "How about at the same cafe? We could forget what happened yesterday and be like a friend again except I'm bringing someone along."  
     "Who?" Then, Misty gives a signal to May to come here and she complies. She introduces May to Sam and they both shake hands.  
     "It's nice to see you."  
     "You too."  
     "So, tomorrow?"  
     "Sure." Sam thanks Misty and May before he left. After she closes the door, May asks Misty what happened yesterday at the cafe. She tells her everything like the autograph and the ensuing argument. After they both enter their respective room, Misty sits on the edge of her bed and thinks about the idea again. She rethinks all of May's idea she came up with. After some time, she smiles as she figures out what theme of her novel would be. She slid herself into her blanket, closes the light and goes to sleep.

_End Of Chapter 2_


	3. Jacob & Ash

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After Misty and May watch morning news together, they both go to the cafe along with Sam and Aria. Unfortunately, the cafe is full, so they have to find another place to hang out. After wandering around Dennis Street, they finally dine & hang out at a Japanese-Korean-Chinese restaurant (yep). After finish eating, Misty notices a crowd in a distance and decides to peek in along with the other. Soon, they found Ash and Red live streaming in the city earlier than intended.  
> After a close encounter with them, May goes on a tour around the university with other exchange students but when they reach the cafeteria, they see a male student sitting alone. When Misty explains to her that he's also an exchange student, May visits the student's apartment and spend some time with him, whose name is Jacob. After the conversation, Misty made a shocking discovery that May is also like writing and soon, gives her an idea to redo her story again.

     Misty walks to the living room with swollen eyes. She stretches her arm and said good morning to May, who is watching the morning news on the television. She walks to the kitchen to make coffee. May said good morning to the half-awake Misty while sips on her tea. Misty stirs on her coffee and sits next to May to watch the news together. Whilst most of the news is pretty tame for them, two news caught their attention. News of the famous celebrity and streamer, Ash Ketchum and his companion, Red will come to the city tomorrow. Both Misty and May feel excited because, well...guess what? Both of them are their childhood friends. You notice a pattern here. Every time when I introduce the character from the Pokemon franchise, it turns out to be the main character's childhood friend. You'll bet if I introduce Brock and Gary into the story, I will say, or write, in this case, that they are their childhood friend.  
     Breaking the fourth wall boundary jokes aside, let's return to the story. The other stories are an ongoing mysteries of a strange body that have been found at Chrysanthemum City, which is quite deterring bring it is one of the popular tourist destinations in the Kanto region, aside from Viridian and Cerulean, of course. Some people report a mysterious body found on the street of Chrysanthemum City with a strange appearance. Only a few photos of this mysterious body surfaces online but oddly taken down by the government without any official explanation from them, sparking a lot of conspiracy theories from the Internet (classic). May, being a fanatic of mystery stories, are immediately hooked to the news. Misty quickly rises up from the couch and goes to the bathroom for a bath. As Misty takes a shower, suddenly, May hears someone knocks on the door. She walks to the door and asks the 'person' to identify themselves.  
     "It's me, Sam. I need to see Misty."  
     "Misty is taking the shower right now," May informs Sam.  
     "Okay then? How about May?"  
     "You're talking to me right now." Judging by the other person's giggles, May assumes Sam might make a little fool of himself. After Misty changes into her usual clothes, both her and May goes out to the cafe along with Sam and Aria. After arriving there, though, things got a little hectic for the cafe because a huge line of people lines up in front of the cafe. They look at each other with a concerning face. With a massive number crammed into the small cafe, it would take a long time before they would even in the cafe. So, instead, they leave the line to wander around Dennis Street. After much searching, they go to Aria's usual spot, a Japanese-Korean-Chinese mixture restaurant (yep) that is further down from the cafe. Unlike Fris's Cafe, this restaurant isn't really well known by many tourists, thus a perfect place for Aria to hang around when there are no group-up. She mostly goes alone, but sometimes she brings her roommate, June along. Before they could enter the restaurant, Sam takes out a cap and places it on Misty's head. She asks him why.  
     "I wouldn't want our group time to be ruined by your fan. So, I bring my cap so you can disguise yourself," Sam explained. Although Misty would appreciate it, she feels unnatural to herself with the cap on. As they enter the restaurant, the atmosphere is really different than the cafe. Even though there are few people dine at this place, this place feels quieter and calm. They take any unoccupied seat. A waiter comes by and asks for any order. Luckily, for Sam, at least, the waiter probably didn't notice Misty's presence. The cap might actually work here. After a while, their order finally arrives. After they finish, Misty sees a crowd of people grouped around another restaurant. She taps her arm to Aria's, who is sitting next to her and give the direction to Aria with a focus nod. Aria immediately looks at where Misty wants her to see. Soon, Sam is looking at that direction and so do May.  
     "What happened there?" Sam wonders.  
     "I don't know, maybe another celebrity has come to the city and dine at that place," Aria speculates.  
     "Maybe we should take a look?" Misty tells the group.  
     "I don't think that is a good idea. You're already popular here. What could happened if they spotted you?" Sam voices his worried as he doesn't repeat what happen yesterday.  
     "Oh, come on! It just a little peek." Finally, Sam had no choice but to go along but gives a little rule that she shouldn't expose herself when they come there. After paying the food, they blend with the crowd as Misty looks around for a view. Suddenly, the crowd moves away from the entrance. Sam manages to catch Misty. After she got her footing again, she thanks Sam before catching up with the crowd. Luckily, with the help of the crowd, which is actually a group of fan, they know who is this mysterious person. And it is surprising to anyone, especially Misty and May. Apparently, Ash and Red have actually visited Viridian City unexpectedly to give a little time to relax without anyone bomb their leisure time alone. Well, it that's the case, that will definitely fail in the most spectacular way.  
     "Should we go now?" May asks Misty. She feels she hears it enough. So, they stop following the crowd and walk to another direction to avoid detection. After a while pondering on Dennis Street and buying some snacks, they return to the university. Misty and May sit on the bench while saying goodbye to Sam and Aria. As they gaze at the university, a leaf falls on May's lap since the bench is, coincidentally, places under the tree, which provides some shade. Misty takes the leaves and decides to keep it as memorabilia when she will finish her studies at the university.  
     May munches down her snack while Misty looks at her phone. She checks on Twitter and Instagram for any update not only from herself but from Ash's. She looks on Twitch to find Ash's channel. Luckily, he uses his real name, so it was easy for Misty to find his channel. Unsurprisingly, Ash gained a lot of subscribers and a big fanbase. He actually live stream currently so she watches the stream together with May. Oddly, the place where he's currently in looks familiar to Misty since she knows every nook and cranny of the university. As if he really goes to the university.  
     ' _Okay, I finally arrive at the Viridian City University, or, as the local call it, VCU. This is where a certain inspiring writer currently studies. She is also my childhood friend. And so do Red, as you may know._ ' 'Oh Ash, it wouldn't be you without those cheeky words,' Misty thought.  
     ' _We are now at the entrance of the university and as you can see, there are two students sitting on that bench right there, seemingly look at one of the student's phone. Maybe we should talk to them._ '  
     "Wait, isn't that us?" May points on the screen. Misty looks at the 'student' he is pointing to. They look familiar. May looks back to see at the entrance. She sees Ash and Red come closer to them. May tells Misty that the student Ash is pointing to is them. So, they quickly run away from them as fast as they could, again, to avoid Misty from being spotted. Both Ash and Red are confused about the 'student' running away from them as if they don't want their identities to be revealed.  
     ' _I guess they don't want to speak with me. Anyway, I think we should head back to the hotel because I feel it wasn't the right time to visit Misty yet._ '  
     They run back to the apartment, feeling exhausted. Misty takes off Sam's cap and put it on the table and sit on the couch. She places her hand on her face to wipes any sweat away. May still leaning against the door, tries to calm her down from their almost unexpected reunion. She takes off her bandana on her head and wipes the sweat off her forehead. The atmosphere is quiet for a while as they're doing their mundane job. Misty opens her laptop and searches for a random name generator for the name of the main and side character of her novel. After much refresh for a good name, she settles on 'Kassidy Hessel', 'Thomas Hensley', 'Caleb Anthony', 'Micheal Weston' and 'Mary Weston'.  
     May, on the other hand, tours around the university by a tour guide along with other exchange students. But, when they reach the cafeteria, they see a male student, wearing what usual bad boy clothes, sitting there without any food. But, the tour guide ignores him, as if he wasn't there at all in the first place. Someone asks the tour guide who it is. Immediately, he changes the subject entirely without even answering the student's question. His unusual behavior arouses suspicion from May. So, when she came back, she quickly asks Misty about the incident and the student himself. Like the tour guide, Misty stays quiet, strengthening her suspicion for the mysterious student.  
     "What is going on here?" Misty sighs and finally tells her about the truth about the student and why they have been ignoring him since. According to Misty, he, like May, is an exchange student from Cerulean University, from what she remembers. Unlike May, however, at that time, students of both universities don't want the student of their rival's even step foot on their ground. They have been met with discrimination, no matter they are black or white. Heck, even to this day, despite VCU students have apologized the exchange student for unfair treatment, any unfortunate VCU exchange student who goes to Cerulean University will face that same treatment than the previous.  
     "Then, why nobody cares about him?"  
     "He has a bad persona that caused chaos in VCU. In spite of his 'old antics' wane down as time passes, nobody even dares to sit near him." May feels pity for him, not only of his discrimination by the previous student of VCU but despite he changes his way and becomes a nice person, due to his past, nobody wants to befriend him. She thinks for a while before asking randomly where is his apartment. Misty writes down his apartment number on a sticky note without any thought. She quickly snatches the note and goes out to meet him. After much search, he finally reaches his apartment. She knocks on the door. She hears someone opens the door and there stands the same student who sits lonely at the cafeteria.  
     "What do you want?" he asks rudely.  
     "You must be the student from the cafeteria, right?"  
     "Yes, why? Discriminate me? I am already tired of that. Get out." He closes the door but May manages to stop it by inserting her foot through the gap. She tries to reasoning with him.  
     "Wait! I'm not here to insult you! I'm here to talk to you!"  
     "I don't care! Leave me alone!"  
     "Wait! I'm also from Cerulean University." Suddenly, he stops resisting. Instead, he looks at May with a curious but blank face.  
     "Are you really from Cerulean University?" May swiftly said 'Yes'. He opens the door to releases May's foot and let her in. May enters his apartment and looks around the apartment. Surprisingly, his living room looks clean and tidy, contrary to what people of him, a dirty, no-good student. May compliment his clean apartment. He jokingly tells May that it even smells like a spring morning. ' _He got a sense of humor_ ' May thought. As May sits down his couch, he quickly goes to the kitchen to grabs something from the fridge. He takes out what seems to be an unfinished cake. There's only one part of the cake missing, suggesting that he may have eaten that slice.  
     "I didn't know your birthday was yesterday," said May.  
     "No. My birthday is next month. Yesterday was my sister's birthday," he reinstates.  
     "Oh. My mistake."  
     "Don't worry about it. You're actually the first person I ever interact with before."  
     "Then, you must be lonely all the time." He nods. After much talking, he began to feel comfortable. He seems a nice guy to socialize with, contrary to everybody's belief. May understands now that he has a hard time to adjusts to the post-discrimination surrounding VCU.  
     "By the way, I'm May. It's nice to meet you."  
     "Jacob." May looks at the clock behind Jacob. It's 4:00 p.m. according to the clock. She asks Jacob if the clock is correct. He looks behind before telling that, yes, it is indeed correct. May stands up and goes to the front door while thanking him for the time spend. But, before she goes out, she advises Jacob that he should socialize more because there is nothing to be afraid of anymore. Jacob, at first, doubted that but soon, he accepts May's advice. She goes back to her apartment after interaction with Jacob. Misty already expects her to go to such a place, so when May returns home, Misty was already sitting on the couch, waiting for May to return. First, she greets her welcome back before asking her about her 'encounter'.  
     "He's actually nice. Even his apartment is clean and tidy from what I think of."  
     "Really?" Misty is surprised by her reaction and story. Then, May sits near her and tells her about what happened at Jacob's apartment. She tells her about how lonely he is. Tells her about the misconception about him and how does he have been affected by it. Everything, even a little advice from her. Misty is surprised by how capable May is. She asks her if she used to be a journalist for her former university.  
     "Of course I am. In fact, I also a writer and respond to most of the articles for the university." Most? Does she mean the article written by a person named Wendy Rose? Most of them are written by her, which is a lot compared to her work of short story and poem. But, Misty thinks deeply. If she meant by that, doesn't that mean?:  
     "Wait, you must be the 'Wendy Rose', aren't you?"  
     "Yep. Do you really like my work?"  
     "Of course, You're one of my inspiration."  
     "Really?"  
     "Yes! As a matter of fact, I also based, or inspired by one of your articles." They talk back to back about how one's work inspires the other's work. The clock shows 6:35 p.m., meaning that they have been talking for a long time. It seems too coincidental that both Misty and May likes their respective work and even one of their works inspires the other. As if they have a sibling connection. After a lengthy conversation, Misty returns to her bedroom to continue her story from where she left off.  
     She looks over the few sentences that she types carefully. She thinks of it before decides to delete the file and remade it into a new one. Now with a fresh new idea on her head, she began to type sentence after sentence over the night.

_End Of Chapter 3_


	4. A Friend & Lover From The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After the fail reunion at the university, Ash is determined to meet Misty before going back. The next day, May tells to Misty that she wants to see more of Viridian City than just Dennis Street. She agrees to take her. So, when the school time is finished, Misty drives with her Porsche 997 Sport Classic to a mall with May. During their time at the mall, Misty accidentally bumps into another person while talking to May. Soon, she realizes that she bumps into Ash, who is waiting for Red at a store.  
> After a long conversation with Ash and Red, where they found out the reason they go to Viridian City in the first place, Misty and May go back to the university, while also do a mini-party in the car. Misty is conflicted with a lot of worthless ideas she's thrown idea, even when May gives a piece of nice advice. But when she looks at the photo of her last day at Pallet Town, she would finally have an idea to write her first ever story.

     Red is reading an article from his laptop while Ash is taking a bath. Ash's Pikachu, unsure of what to do, limp to Red's bed and lies next to him. He notices it and pats the Pikachu's back until it fell asleep. Red half-closes his laptop and carries it back to the basket made for it. Ash emerges out from the bathroom, wrapped up in a towel to cover the sensitive spot. Red closes his laptop and, with his towel on his shoulder, enters the bathroom to take a bath.  Ash had watched the TV on his bed, in his pajamas once Red came out from his shower.  
     "Oooo...look at that pretty boy!" Ash jokingly said. Red ignores Ash's pathetic joke about his muscular abs and takes out his clothes from his suitcase. Ash looks at Red before asking a seemingly random question.  
     "Tomorrow would be our last day here. Why don't we go back to the university just to meet Misty one last time?" Red gives an unsure-tone hum while reading one of Misty's short stories in Misty's published short stories and poems compilation. Ash only looks at Red in disappointment. Instead of asking again, Ash would tuck himself into the blanket and curled himself with comfort. Red, on the other hand, continues to read the book. After some time, Red places the bookmark between the gap and closes the book. He places the book on the table and closes the light before goes to sleep.  
     May, as usual, wakes up earlier than Misty. She takes a bath and makes her usual tea in the kitchen. As she stirs on her tea, she looks at the view of Viridian City skyscrapers easily visible from here. Those majestic buildings soar the sky with might. Cars drove around the bustling commercial center as people from different regions came and go. May wants to see, at least, that area of Viridian City, beyond Dennis Street. Luckily, Misty just so happened to wake up at the right moment.  May immediately tells Misty that she wants to explore Viridian City. Misty can't hear what May talking about since she's still half-awake.  
     "What were you saying?" asked Misty.  
     "How about we go around the city?"  
     "Why is that?"  
     "I want to see more of Viridian City, probably away from the university." Misty moves her head slightly. May has to accommodate if she would stay here for the rest of the semester. Misty only smiles and nods her head a bit, indicating that she might reconsider it. Then, she looks at the clock in the living room, just above the TV. It shows 7:15 a.m., Monday (since the clock has a built-in day to tell what day is today). As expected, Misty suddenly has a jolt of realization and quickly goes back to her bedroom to grabs her towel. May can't help but giggles at Misty's morning rush.  
     They enter their classes and take a seat. Eventually, the student starts filling in the empty space until it is almost completely full. Both Misty and May take the Creative Writing class (yes, that does exist), while Sam and Aria take the Business & Management Studies and Law class respectively. When the teacher came in, everybody came cheering at the teacher, including Misty. May, being a newcomer, is confused and whisper to Misty about the sudden cheer. Bur, before Misty could answer, the teacher calls out May's name. She stands up and the teacher asks her to come in front and introduce herself to everyone. May comes down from her seat to the front of the class and shyly introduces herself to her new classmate. Like what Misty said, the responses are positive, even someone greets her with a smile and a cheeky 'Good luck' on the way back. After the class, May tells Misty how nice they are.  
     "Told you so," said Misty.  
     It's 4:45p.m.. Misty is waiting at the back entrance, leading to the parking lot. After a few minutes, May arrives at the back entrance after a long conversation with her classmate. As she waves goodbye at her, she quickly runs toward Misty. After arriving, though, Misty gives a playful light punch to her arm while smirking. She moves her head to the left, signaling to May that they should go now. She opens the door for May to go out first before her. Outside, though, she is confused as to which car is her. She glances at Misty before coming into the decision that she should follow her as Misty will lead to her car. Finally, they reach Misty's car. To her surprise, her car is a Porsche 997 Sport Classic ( _really? Do you really need to be that specific?_ {yes} _ALSO_ , _a Porsche?!_ {yes}). Misty looks at May in confused as May is still gasp at the revelation.  
     "Aren't you supposed to come with me now?" May finally snaps back into reality as she walks hurriedly to the passenger door. Misty opens the door and they enter almost simultaneously. As Misty put on her seat belt and about to start the engine, May, as expected, asks Misty how did she get a hand on an expensive car. Misty only smiles before telling her that she should buckle up. May immediately buckle up her seat belt and instead of asking Misty again, she just stays put and quiet. As she starts the engine, the tremendous roar of the engine thunders the interior, even caught May off-guard by the sudden noise. She first reversed her Porsche out of her parking lot before driving off the campus and into the belly of Viridian City.  
     May presses her hand over the window while admiring the scenery. Despite it isn't nighttime yet, the people have already crowded the street at the commercial center. Many people, from varying races, different generations have come to this metropolis to buy stuff with ludicrous spending of money. No wonder the city earned the nickname of 'City Of Green'. Speaking of the nickname, it also well-known to be an Eco-friendly city. So, technically, the nickname has a double meaning. Aside from that, it has many spectacular tourist attractions and a beautiful, well-maintained waterfront, with a photo-worthy view on here and the other side, which is equally as amazing as its big brother. Soon, they enter an underground car park. After getting the ticket, Misty goes around the car park to find an empty space somewhere near to the entrance. After parking, Misty locks her car and both her and May enter the mall. May, being the newcomer, is astonished by the magnificent view and size of the mall.  
     After scouring the mall, Misty accidentally bumps into another person when she's talking to May. She quickly apologizes to the person but, oddly, the person said her name. Misty s perplexed as she wonders how's this person knows her without even turning back. But she takes a closer look at that person. Something look familiar. Before long, the person turns back to look at her. Surprisingly, she coincidentally bumps into Ash, who is waiting for Red outside. Feeling a bit of a fool, she quickly stands up and brushes off imaginary dust despite being a little bump.  
     "Ash, how are you?" asked Misty.  
     "Fine, I guess. What are you doing here?"  
     "Well...I'm going out with someone."  
     "With who?" Misty looks back at May, who is standing uncomfortably and shyly smiles. Like Misty back at the program, Ash is surprised to see May since he's unaware that she's also (now) a student of the university. Coincidentally, Red had just come out from the store after buying a Blu-Ray copy of his favorite movie. May notices Red and quickly goes toward him and gives a sweet hug. Red, still baffled, are unsure as to the people in the store, and even the cashier is making a suggestive 'ooo' sound. His face only reddens as May finishes her hug.  
     "So, Red. How is it?" Ash jokingly asks. Red makes a little rage grunt as Ash and Misty giggle. Soon, they go around the mall a bit more. While Misty and Ash walking together in synchronize, Red and May sometimes hold hands together while, also sometimes, swinging around. Misty teases them by suggesting that they should go out together more often. Her tease makes Red and May even more uncomfortable. Despite that, they are still holding hands together. Misty even see May smiles away from Red. As Misty turns back, Ash asks her how're her studies.  
     "It's fine right now. But it became more difficult as I have my writing career on the rise right now."  
     "So, how about May? When do you meet her again?"  
     "Surprisingly, really recently. She's actually an exchange student who came to study here."  
     "Really? Well...that would explain that."  
     "I'm sure of that." Both Misty and Ash laugh.  
     "I miss the old time where the old gang goes together back at Pallet Town."  
     "Yeah. By the way, have you keep in touch with Brock and Gary?"  
     "No. They have just disappeared, somewhat like a ghost. Why you asked?"  
     "Yesterday, I have a chance to see Dawn again."  
     "Really?"  
     "Well...not in person..." As they continue chatting, May can't even glance at Red for just a second. It's been a long time since graduation. While Red might have forgotten the memories of them spending time together just like Misty and Ash, May haven't. In fact, her love toward Red hasn't wane down even after the graduation. Now, after a long time, Red has appeared in her life once again. May only looks at Red with her face blushes. Finally, May gathers enough courage and asks Red for something.  
     "So, when do you come back to here again?" asked May. Her question is rather pointless as Red cannot talk at all, or maybe he doesn't want to. Instead, Ash decides to answer May's question for Red.  
     "Well...he'll be moving here. I'm only here to find the apartment for him."  
     "Do you really move here?" asked Misty.  
     "No, Red will move here, not me." Ash reinstates her statement.  
     "But if he supposed to move here, then why do you guys have to stay at the hotel?"  
     "Well, we need to find an apartment for him to live. Besides, we would have to pack his stuff by Friday."  
     "If that's the case then, where do you live, Ash?" this time, May asks Ash.  
     "At Vermilion Town."  
     "Really? You live in a port town?" Misty questions his decision to live in Vermilion City.  
     "Why not? I'm more prefer to live next to the ocean rather than living in a bustling metropolis. Besides, it is more peaceful and reminds me of when we were at Pallet Town."  
     "Yeah, it's been a long time ago since we left," said Misty. May and Red seem to agree with her word by nodding their heads.  
     After a long conversation (that I wouldn't want to waste writing all of it), Misty and May go back to Misty's Porsche. By that time, it's almost 15 minutes before 7 o'clock at nighttime. As Misty pays for the ticket, May taps on her shoulder and tells her that she's having a blast here. Misty only smiles at her before she takes the ticket. When they put on their seat belt, May makes a little phone call. Misty asks her who does she wants to call. Before long, she got a connection. It turns out that May is calling Dawn. As usual, Dawn asks her what is the situation right now.  
     "Dawn, when do you finished your secret project?"  
     "Not long actually. We were about to finish the project. It would be finished on this Wednesday due time and I would be free of work."  
     "Great! Wouldn't it be great to visit here to meet Misty face-to-face?"  
     "Oh...I can't. I have to visit my parents back in Pallet Town after that. Maybe Saturday would be nice."  
     "Sure. Well, it's nice to talk to you. Can you send my regard and hello to your parents?"  
     "Sure. See you soon." May hangs up her phone. She informs her that Dawn will come to visit here this Saturday. But after they leave the car park, things went silent for a while. To avoid this, Misty turns on the radio and switches to a different station. Then, she stops at these frequencies and starts to jam along with the song currently playing on the radio. May soon joins in. Suddenly, it became a mini-party in the Porsche. Both Misty and May sing the chorus of the song with excitement. After the duet came to the laughter. The atmosphere turns brighter as the deejay starts to play a popular hit song. When the song starts, both sing in harmony, despite their terrible singing voice. When they reach the entrance, they have so much fun inside the car. Back at the apartment, May watches the nighttime news while Misty is changing her clothes into her pajamas. When she's in the living room, May already glued to the news. So, Misty sits alongside her.  
     "So, how's your story?" May asks Misty about the novel. Misty isn't feeling that fine when May asked that question.  
     "I don't know. I feel like I can't even think of a perfect story to write on my novel."  
     "Why don't you take a rest and look around? Maybe you can find inspiration from your surroundings. Give it a try." Misty glances at May for a while before looking down again, thinking about May's advice. She nods her head slightly, thinking that advice could work. Suddenly, she came up with a lot of ideas. She immediately stands up and quickly runs back to her room. Then, she sits down and jotted down the ideas into her notebook. But, when she looks at her idea one by one, if she doesn't like or feel that would be good, she crossed the line over the word. Soon, all of her idea that she jotted are rejected. She sighs as she can't think of an idea. She opens her laptop and looks at the current draft that she made. She quickly removes the draft permanently.  
     'No...no...NO! This would work,' she thought. She turns her chair around to face the rest of her bedroom. Her eyes move left and right, looking for inspiration. Then, she looks at the childhood photo. As always, her mind calmed down when she looks at the picture. So many childhood memories flooding in her mind. Her mind washes away the stress and into a calming sea of consciousness. Misty makes a thinking gesture with her left arm supporting her right arm while the right hand is holding her chin with a tick pose. Then, she snaps her finger because she figures out a great idea. She would base her story on her childhood days. Soon, Misty starts working on the new draft. Now with confidence, she types the word on the screen with a swift movement.  
     May peek over her behind the door. Completely unaware of her presence, Misty keeps on typing her sentence with lightning speed. May smiles as she looks at Misty's new determination on the project and her typing/writing skills on the work. After she closes the door, she goes back to her bedroom to sleep, preparing for the next day.

_End Of Chapter 4_


	5. Pardoning The Past

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Despite May's advice, Jacob won't even bother to make some friends with the student of VCU and instead, preferred to be himself, a lonely student. Luckily, May devised a plan to change things around. Along with Misty, Sam, Aria and a few volunteers, they successfully make Jacob believe again, which garner attention because of a video recorded from a teacher.  
> After the inspiring speech from the principal and May, the main characters are then going to Red's new apartment for a little visit. Then, Red surprised them with a laptop and a pencil case for Misty and a necklace for May.  
> While Misty joking around with May about her affection toward Red, both Jacob and Sam looks at the window, with two different feelings.

     Despite May's advice, Jacob never gets in touch with anybody. In fact, he's more prefers to sit alone in the cafeteria than to sit with other people. When he walks to his class, everyone moves away from him, as if they see a dark aura surrounding him. Jacob already getting used to it, so it doesn't bother him at all. When he enters the class, being a latecomer, every student looks at him and can't stop staring at him like a predator eying on its prey. They don't even say 'Hello' and 'Good Morning' to him at all. When recess came, he sits at his favorite table without anybody bothering him. Suddenly, when he eats his mashed potato, May suddenly slam her tray onto the table, catching Jacob off-guard.  
     "What are you doing here?" asked Jacob. She doesn't answer. Instead, she smiles at him before sitting next to him. Then, Misty sits next to him and so do Sam and Aria. Sudden!y, a random stranger sits on his table, follows by another stranger. Soon, his table is full of random people. Feeling anxious, Jacob tries to walk away before May and Misty grabs both of his arms and Sam manages to convince him to stay. Jacob asks May about the sudden emergence of people in his table.  
     "Well...it was my idea."  
     "Why though? When do you come out with this idea?"  
     "Since yesterday. Look, I want you to make some friends. This is all of the students who valiantly volunteer to be your friend. Come on. Don't be shy. Talk to them." Unlike what he does to May when she visits his apartment, he shyly waves his 'new' friend and introduces himself. After his introduction,  the rest of the volunteer starts to introduce themselves to Jacob. Coincidentally, a teacher, who happened to pass by, sees this moment and record it on her phone without them knowing her presence. May's plan worked perfectly. Now, Jacob has new friends and no longer hides in the shadow.  
      The video that has been recorded by that teacher spread across the phone of others via group chat. Soon, the video is even reached to the principal. Suffice to say, he is indeed pleased with his students doing the right thing. So, when Wednesday rolls around, the principal made a surprise speech. Of course, true to himself, his speech is long. But unlike his previous speech, everyone, including Misty and May, pay attention to his speech as he expresses his gratitude to the student while keeping the name of the people anonymous.   
      'First and foremost, I would like to address something I saw in my message yesterday. A teacher has recorded something that is truly remarkable because they make friends to our senior exchange student who had been dealt with loneliness since the time where you disgrace and tainted the name of our university. I am glad to see that the student has pardoned the dark past and return to the era of prosperity and unity.  
     What I am talking about is that a teacher record a moment where a group of students befriending a once-troublesome student in the cafeteria yesterday. When I saw the video, I was touched because they were happy to sit down together and chatting together in that short amount of time. And that is what I want to see in my student, and that is unity because even though we are different in races and colors, we are all united together to create a better world.'  
     The auditorium thundered and roared by the sound of clapping from everybody. Some even cheered with might. As the clap and cheer calm down, the director of the VCU asks everybody in the auditorium, "Whoever in this auditorium who is part of the plan, can you please stand up so everybody can see your face?" His question seems to discourage the students but May bravely stands up when the crowd sat there like a coward. Soon, Misty stands up alongside Sam and Aria. The volunteers did it too. Finally, Jacob, though with a shaken leg, too stands up after seeing May. Then, he asks them to go up to the stage. While most of them got the cheer, Jacob doesn't, having a not-so-joyful stare. Maybe the sourness that these students had back at those days is still happening today, only gives Jacob a cold shoulder to rest on. May notices this, feeling concern that Jacob still has some person who even doubts him that he is a changed man.  
    After they went onto the stage, the principal gives the microphone to May, which she quickly gives a little speech of her own, 'Good morning to all of you. So, as the principal pointed out, we...or, in this case, I made a plan for our friend Jacob here to make friends. So, when it is recess time, we begin the plan. Once I placed my tray on his table, that's the signal to commence the second stage and well...you know the rest. My goal is to give someone like Jacob time to socialize, to interact with people despite their past. I want to give Jacob a new chapter to his life after what we have done in the past. So, I want all of you to stand up and make a change. Don't be afraid to give a try because we may find something that would be our golden ticket to opportunity. Thank you.' She ended her speech with a confident voice and an encouraging word. The crowd stands on their feet, flooding the auditorium with a resounding clap and cheer from the students.  
     After the speech, everybody cheers up May's name. Some compliment her courage and some even praise her action. May only shyly thanking them while Misty gives a little bump on the shoulder as a 'You did it alright' gesture. Noting is happening throughout Wednesday aside from studying in class and answering. That night, Misty continues writing her story. Her eyes look sloppy due to her being unable to sleep well in the last two nights because of her story. In spite, the story is still in Chapter 1, she laid a lot of groundwork for the novel. May knocks on the door and asks her if she could come in. Misty welcomes her in. As May enters the room, Misty laid her finger off the laptop.  
    "So, what should we do when Dawn comes here this Saturday?" asked May. Misty turns her chair around.  
    "I don't know. Maybe we could show her around, "Misty suggests.  
    "No, she did visits here much time before."  
    "What!? You mean she had visited here before? Why didn't you tell me that?" Misty is lost of words after finding out. May giggles before asking her for something else.  
    "Why don't we have a selfie here? You know, as memorabilia to remember our time when we'll graduate."  
    "Sure." As Misty quickly moves her hand over her hair to move some of the hair away, May switches the camera to 'selfie mode' and goes into position. _1 2 3! Click!_ The photo has been taken. May looks at the result. Not a good picture but it's fine for her. Then, she sends the picture to Misty via WhatsApp. Misty's phone gives an iconic sound and she looks into Whatsapp and downloads the picture itself. May walks out of the room and says 'see you later' as Misty looks into her phone. Misty closes her phone before focusing back on her story.  
     Thursday has come. During the free time after school, Misty and May, with Misty's Porsche, go to Red's apartment after Ash, via Whatsapp, mentions that Red had just moved in that noon, one day earlier than intended, with the address to his apartment. To their surprise, when they reach the address, May only gasp in awe because he isn't living in an apartment but a condominium, a big one. Misty parks her car into a car park, which, luckily, isn't private to the inhabitant of the condominium. When entering the condominium, their jaw goes down even further. Despite being residential, the lobby itself uses harsh lightning and beautiful hand-carved architecture, equivalent to an expensive hotel (you know what I mean). Anyway, where was I? Oh yeah!  
     As they take the elevator to Red's new apartment, Misty's call notification suddenly rings. She immediately picks up the call. After a brief conversation, she hung up the phone, just in time for the elevator to reach the desired level. They go off the elevator and with the help of the apartment number, find Red's new apartment. May knocks on the door while Misty is preparing her phone. Red opens the door to welcomes them in. Red's apartment is, for the lack of a better term, indescribable. There's a lot of things I want to explain that it would take this entire paragraph to describe every little detail here. So, let's cut to the chase. (yeah, as an excuse to explain that detail later in the story.) [Shut up!]  
     As they sat down on a luxurious couch, Red went to his big kitchen to serve them some coffee for Misty and tea for May. While preparing, Misty taps on May's shoulder and shows her the phone, to indicate that she wants to take a picture with Red. After Red comes back with a tray of two cups, both filled with coffee and tea, he gives his hand outward to them, and raised his eyebrow, telling them how's their time in the university.  
     "It is indeed fine back at the university. So, Red. Do you really want to take a selfie?" Red gives a positive tone hum while nodding his head, meaning that he wants to have a selfie. They quickly go into position while Misty switches into selfie mode in the camera. _1 2 3! Click!_ The photo has saved into Misty's phone gallery. May takes a sip of her tea while Red asks them to stay with a hand gesture and goes to his bedroom. While waiting, Misty decides to take a look around the apartment a bit. Unlike their apartment, Red's apartment is looking beautiful, a drama-esqe view with the big window facing the center of the city. Despite the layout are similar to theirs, he has more detail to its surrounding, even the smallest detail like the marble tabletop, the dark oak wood for the floor and the fancy chandelier hanging above the living room. Red is living the dream here.  
     May has finished her tea when Red came back with two present wrapped up with birthday wrapping paper, which is odd since he should know that today is not Misty's nor May's birthday. Red gives a hand gesture to asks them to open up the present. First, Misty tears the wrapping paper of the box with her name written on it and opens the lid. Inside is a laptop with the Pokeball at the center of the cover and a pencil case with a keychain attached to it. Misty knows this is from Ash's as Red wouldn't do this such thing and the keychain, which shaped like a heart, has a carving to it. It read as follow;

_To Misty, the love of my life._

     Misty cringes at Ash's attempt to 'seduce' and 'flirt' her due to how cheesy the sentence it is. Meanwhile, May opens her box and looks inside. Since her box is smaller than Misty's, she assumes that she only gets one instead of two like what Misty got. She suddenly tears up when she sees the item inside, a necklace with five objects attached to it, from left to right; a seashell, a key, a heart, a heart-shaped locket, and a wave. It actually signifying two things, that Red still has that affection toward May (key, locket, heart) while also referencing their hometown, Pallet Town, which is a beach town (a seashell, wave).  
     "How sweet of you. Thanks!" May thanks Red for the gift. Misty intentionally coughs to diffuse this romantic atmosphere. Realizing that Misty is still here, they quickly look away from each other while also, blushing their faces. Misty only giggles. After a few minutes, Misty and May wave goodbye to Red as they return to the Porsche. As Misty starts up the engine, she asks May how is the necklace. She replies, "I actually fine with this necklace here."  
      "So, you two still have that affection back at those days?" asked Misty. Unlike the other girls who prefer to stay quiet and pretend that their other friend didn't ask that similar question, May answer her question with honest that, yes, they may still had some affection left but wasn't sure if Red really does care about her. Suddenly, she asks Misty the same but different word question either she has a 'thing' toward Ash. Misty, at first, denied it, saying that Ash could make a prank to make her embarrassed like he always does. But then, Misty stares at nothing for a second before she smirks for no reason and her face redden a bit. May notices it and teases Misty the same way as Misty did to her last Tuesday, as an act of revenge. As expected, Misty's face becomes redder and, admit defeat, put her face onto the steering wheel and grunts. May laughs as a sign of victory for her act of revenge.  
       In the meantime, Jacob looks on the city, which illuminates the night sky with colorful and vibrant light. He seems to be happy that his life changes for the better thanks in part to May. He is holding something in his hand, small enough to fit inside his fist but it's too dark to see because he closes all of the light in his apartment. After a few minutes gazing at the city, he backs off into the darkness of his room. But there seem to be another person standing in front of their window but with a different feeling. And that person is Sam. Not only he seems concerned but he feels disappointed of himself, probably because he can't be with Misty much more than he intended. Sam only sighs before he returns to bed to get some sleep for Friday. 

_End Of Chapter 5_


	6. Cerulean City

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Dawn cannot come to Viridian City because of her work, so, she messages May and asked her if she would forgive her. May replies with a honest apology acceptance. Suddenly, someone knocks on the door. After May checkes it out, she found out that it was the principal. He asked them if she and Misty go on an interview by a known interviewer at her mansion.  
> The principal had to give them the address as his van couldn't catch up with them. After a long interview, Misty and May goes around Cerulean City for a bit and came across an abandoned Pokémon gym. Misty felt a sense of deja vu, and her suspicion is right as May discovers an old newspaper article with another person of the exact name.

     _I look myself in the mirror once again. I only smile to myself as I have finally regret myself for naively loving the man who is a murderer. My smile is once the remnant of my broken relationship with him. I was a fool to love Nathan just like what I did earlier. When I date Nathan, I thought myself to be the luckiest person alive. Besides, Nathan is popular in my school, so it wouldn't be a stretch when Nathan decides to propose a date. For the next few weeks, everybody, my friend included, is jealous of me._  
   _I stirred my chocolate milkshake while Nathan sips on his coffee. I don't know why, but something about Nathan makes me a little happy, but oddly, unnerving. Nathan then asks me if I could go to his house and spend some quality time since his parent is going out for a while. I grew suspicious of him, actually as I haven't seen his parents come back home for a month now. But I idiotically brush it off, thinking that his parent is really busy, hence that._  
_I follow Nathan to his house. Now, I've been here a lot of times. When I first came here, Nathan's parents greet me nicely. But, when they seemingly disappear, he took care of his house. What made me suspicious is the mysterious voice that lingering in my head for the past month, or ever since I came to his house before his parent is gone somewhere else._  
_That is mainly because I hear the desperate help from the basement. It sealed shut and lock with an immense and intricate locking system that would make my head spin. I once asked Nathan about this, but he never answered. Anyway, I sat in his bedroom while he is preparing a 'surprise' for me._

     Misty is still typing on her short story while casting away her novel for a while. May looks over her shoulder, watching Misty typing her hand faster like a mad lad who never stops typing. While her vocabulary is a little simpler, she still had a way to make it a little interesting. No wonder her short stories and poem were such a big hit. As she finished her short story, May looks at her phone, which she haven't touch it for a while. Suddenly, she receives a lot of notifications from Dawn. She checks the message out and read it silently. 

> _May, I need to talk to you._
> 
> _I can't come to Viridian City as I stuck in Nuvema Town for work._
> 
> _The head scientist of my team asked me to come back as she told me that she made a "big discovery"._
> 
> _I don't know why she wants me back despite I don't really contribute to the project at all. But it doesn't matter._
> 
> _I'm sorry if I had to broke the promise. Can you forgive me?_

 

     May only smiles. She still is that Dawn that she knows when they were children. She replies to her text with a little acceptance of the apology.

> _May, I need to talk to you._
> 
> _I can't come to Viridian City as I stuck in Nuvema Town for work._
> 
> _The head scientist of my team asked me to come back as she told me that she made a "big discovery"._
> 
> _I don't know why she wants me back despite I don't really contribute to the project at all. But it doesn't matter._
> 
> _I'm sorry if I had to broke the promise. Can you forgive me?_
> 
> _Sure, I forgive you. So, when does this 'project' of yours will **truly be** finished?_

 

May closes her phone as Misty finally finished her short story. She quickly looks over her finished story for a little adjustment and grammar checking. After a couple of minutes of readjusting her story a bit, she then posts it on her blog and the link to Twitter and Facebook. Misty breathes a sigh of relief while May is checking on her reply to see if Dawn is answering. Sadly, none. In the meantime, Misty browse over her latest Twitter post's replies to look at the response. While most are positive, some wonder if the novel is ever finished. Misty quickly replies, reassuring them that the novel will be finished soon. Suddenly, someone knocking their apartment door. May quickly run and open the door to see who is visiting at this time. Surprisingly, the principal came. She asks him about his intention.  
     "Well...tomorrow would be a fine day for you too."  
     "Why was that?" He then gives a letter to May and asks her to bring it to Misty as he wants both of them to look inside the content "together". May looks at the letter and able to see their name imprint on it...well, not really. This person did write Misty's name but not hers. Instead, this person used her 'Wendy Rose' pseudonym, which makes sense, since, apart from Misty and apparently, the principal too, nobody, even Sam and Aria aren't aware that May and Wendy Rose are the same person. She doesn't know how he knows that she is indeed Wendy Rose but she glossed over the fact and thanks for coming.  
     Misty is already deep into her novel when May returns to the bedroom. She quickly and repeatedly taps on Misty's shoulder while calling out her name to get her attention. Misty, getting annoyed by the repetition, immediately asks May to stop and tells her what is her problem. May quickly and briefly explain while she gives the letter to Misty. Like her, Misty is a tad bit confused, but without any hesitation, rips the upper part of the letter and take out the content inside, There, rest on Misty's hand, is an invitation from someone. It reads;  

* * *

_I would like to invite both of your best writers in your university, Misty Williams and Wendy Rose, for an interview at my mansion at Cerulean City next Saturday 04/15. If both of them agree, I would also want the interview to be live on Twitch and YouTube, if they don't mind._

_From: Evelyn Lee Robin_

* * *

     Both Misty and May are excited and nervous at the same time. They are excited because getting an interview with one of the most influential journalists of all time would be amazing. After all, theirs are really known by the entire Kanto region. But then, there's the fact that the interview will be live online. That would be fine for Misty since she is really active on Twitter and Facebook but May, on the other hand, this would be her first time getting some exposure to the internet, aside from a few followers from her former Cerulean University friends on Twitter, and a few following to some other famous celebrity here.  
     May immediately call her parent and told her about the news. Misty clearly hear May's parent are overjoyed with her mother, Caroline congratulates her and indeed happy with her. May asks her mother if Max is still awake. She said 'No, he is sleeping in his bedroom right now.'  
     "So, where and when do you go for the interview?" asked Caroline.  
     "Tomorrow. To Cerulean City."  
     "Cerulean City? I thought you were still studied there."  
     "Well, not anymore. I have been transferred to VCU a week ago. Although it is still new to me, I easily love this place than Cerulean City."  
     "Well...I hope you have the best time there."  
     "Oh, I almost forgot! Mom, I want you to meet my roommate, or apartment mate, in this case."  
     'Oh. I am excited!" Misty only huffs in laughter as it's so typical of her. Misty likes her cheerful attitude and really happy that she is still acting the same. As she changes into a video call, she immediately tells Misty, without revealing her name, to turn around for a big surprise. She quickly places her phone, face-up and runs to the switch to turn on the light. Then, she sits on her back and positions herself behind Misty. After that, she calls Misty, again, to hide her identity before the big reveal, to turn around.  
     Caroline's and Norman's, May's father, the reaction is indeed priceless, especially Caroline. She cries in happiness while Norman is standing still with the frozen surprised face. Misty only chuckles awkwardly as Caroline shrieks in happiness while keeping it low so she didn't wake Max up. May, on the other hand, rolls her eyes, knowing full well of the situation. As Caroline regains her senses after a small freak out, Norman tells Misty that her mother missed her so much since she left. Misty feels a little guilty when she heard the word. She hasn't been in touch with her mother for a while, the last time was two months ago. At that time, she was well and healthy as always, but her voice was a bit grouchy and unfeminine, maybe a bit. But she is still the mother she grew up with alongside her sisters. Currently, she is with Lily, Misty's third oldest sister after she graduated. Back at Pallet Town.  
     "So, how is it going on over there?" Caroline finally talks after a little 'meltdown of emotions'.  
     "Well, it's been fine here. I'm now become an established writer, like May."  
     "Really? I guess you really work hard to achieve your dream." Misty smiles and breathes a little huff of laughter while May rolls her eyes out again.  
     "So, Misty. Do you have the same interview?" Misty nods her head. Soon, May ended the video call. After a little time of leisure, Misty asks May if Dawn is up to visit them. May only shakes her head, signifying that Dawn may never visit here, despite Misty doesn't know the reason behind it. Soon, May exits the room, leaving Misty to sit on her own bed. She sighs and looks at the contact on her phone. There, she sees the contact name that made her smile a bit. 'Mom❤'.  
     'I wonder how Mom is doing back at Pallet Town,' Misty tells to herself. She charges her phone and goes to sleep, waiting for Saturday morning to come by. Due to the principal gives the letter last night, he didn't prepare them with sufficient transportation like a bus. Instead, they had to use their car to drive to Cerulean City, which, luckily, are really close to Viridian City, two hours to be exact. That's why May and the other exchange student got here in the morning instead of, usually, tomorrow afternoon like the other places in the Kanto region. Misty asks the principal if they could ride on his van as her car only have one passenger seat. He agrees as he doesn't want Misty and May to miss out on the interview. As Misty and May enter the Porsche, the principal whispers to Sam, "How did she exactly own that car despite not being rich in the first place?"  
     "She somehow got it from a lottery. She won a lottery, for some reason, and she got the Porsche as a prize for winning that lottery," Sam explains the reason why Misty owns a Porsche. Suspicion has been aroused from Jacob and June as they didn't believe in the reasoning. But he disproves their theories by put out the lottery ticket that won her the Porsche, as a piece of evidence for Sam to disprove similar rumor and theories, just in case if anybody wonders why.  
     "But still, what kind of lottery that offers a Porsche to their winner?" Jacob wonders the 'logic' behind.  
     "Don't try to put me into a bandwagon of your assortment ideas and theories because I don't want to be part of it," Sam sarcastically told Jacob. The rest giggles and chuckles as they enter the principal's van. In the meantime, Misty and May are entering the Porsche while they were talking about last night, especially about their mother. As they enter the car, the principal, grow a bit impatient, honks the horn to divert their attention to him, signaling them to 'hurry up!'. Misty soon starts the car and drives off the car park, followed by the principal's van.  
     The van had a hard time to catch up with Misty's car (because it's a Porsche, for crying out loud!) while Misty and May are cruising with ease. Soon, Misty has to slow down her car a bit so the van would catch up with them. But, before long, they have to stop for a while because the principal's van is too slow. So, he gives Misty and May the address to Evelyn's mansion. Not to contend with that, he even calls Evelyn and informing her that he wouldn't come but the interview must go on.  
     "Girls, good luck with the interview," he said. Both Misty and May are about to enter the car before Jacob quickly said, "Wait!". He quickly goes toward May and asks her about something while he scours his pocket and takes out a little ring. May is confused before Jacob explains to her that he bought the little ring yesterday as a little gift of appreciation for changing his life. She shyly (since she is still confused) thanks to him and immediately enter the Porsche. As the Porsche drives off, Sam shouts a little 'love intimidation' sound at Jacob, joking say to Aria, "We have a loving boy here!"  
     "Too bad she is with somebody else," he added. Aria swiftly elbows Sam in the abdomen.  
     "You don't need to say that, Sam! Maybe he had a feeling toward her before you shut his dream down!" she whispers to him. Jacob only stands there without even flinching his hand. In the meantime, Misty's Porsche zooms past the car on the highway while still under the speed limit. Misty cheekily tells her that she might a few boys crush on her after that 'presentation'. May only blushed a bit, thinking about Red of all persons. She probably misses him already. (And no, she can't call Red since he is mute).

 

* * *

 

     They have arrived at the mansion. As she approaches the gate to Evelyn's mansion, an anonymous person asked for their identity. Misty calmly lowers the window and shows the invitation. A few seconds later, the gate opens and she continues to drive into the parkway. She parks her Porsche and both her and May enters the mansion. Greeting them is a Gardevoir in a maid costume. They feel a bit amazed by the fact that they saw a Pokémon for the first time in many years, up close. But, aside from that, it seems suspicious to see a Pokemon still 'serving' to its 'master' even after the ban is in effect.  
     "Please follow me to the interview room," said the Gardevoir politely. As they follow the Gardevoir 'maid' around,  May looks at the artifact, both modern and vintage, that Evelyn might have collected or bought over the years. Misty, on the other hand, informs the principal, via private messages, that they have arrived before joining May on the search hunt. They have arrived in the interview room. Oddly, the room is really spacious but barely even furnished aside from a chair for Evelyn and couch. The Gardevoir asked them to take a seat at the couch. They thank the 'maid' and sit as instructed.  
      "I see you have met my maid, Diamond, " Evelyn tells to Misty and May.  
      "I thought that her species is part of many Pokemon that is banned to be kept, "said Misty, involving a ban that is passed a long time ago, around fifty years to be exact. And since then, Misty, and by extension, May never saw, aside from Ash with his Pikachu, any other person with a Pokémon that is accepted to be as 'pet'. Evelyn explains to them that she was adopted by her when she was at Hyrule after an illegal Pokémon trade takes place in a secluded area, had been raided by police. Feeling pity for her, she decides to adopt the young, still unhatched egg and called her Diamond because she apparently likes diamond when she was a little Kirilia. Both Misty and May raised their eyebrow in suspicion.  
       "Let's not talk about that and focused on the interview." After a countdown from the cameraman, the camera light turns on, indicating that the interview is now live. Now at the hotel, the gang looks on Twitch as the interview began. (Prepare for a long dialogue).

> EVELYN: Good afternoon to the citizen of Cerulean City and the world! Today, I will begin the interview for our two special guest, hail from a small town called Pallet Town and studies at VCU, been consider as the CCU's biggest rival.
> 
> MISTY & MAY: Hello! *wave*
> 
> EVELYN: So, would you like to introduce yourself to the crowd?
> 
> MISTY: Hello, I'm Misty Williams. I'm from the family of five currently with me being the youngest from my three older sisters. I study at Viridian City University for two years now, being halfway into my first semester. I am the writer of many short stories and poems that have been published as a compilation.
> 
> MAY: Hello, I'm May Sapphire, also known as "Wendy Rose". I once a student here before I moved to VCU as an exchanged student. I'm from a family of four with me have my parent and my younger brother who is still in high school at this time.
> 
> EVELYN: So, first and for most, how did you girls meet?
> 
> MISTY: Well, I was born in that peculiar town. From my childhood memories, May moved here when we were six since we are in the same age.
> 
> MAY: I lived in Petalburg City before I moved to Pallet Town because my dad gets sick of his current job at that time, so he quits and moved out of Petalburg City. Max wasn't born yet until 2 years after we moved in.
> 
> MISTY: Back at Pallet Town, we were getting along so well despite our differences. We were in our own made group called The Pallet Gang. Despite the name though, we never committed any crime in our life.
> 
> EVELYN: So, how many and who is a member of your group?
> 
> MISTY: Seven. Three girls and four boys.
> 
> MAY: We have Brock, the oldest of the group. Despite being the oldest, he's not the leader. Instead, that title goes to Ash with Red as his right-hand man. Gary, on the other hand, doesn't offer many contributions to the group, to be honest. But we respect his existence nonetheless.
> 
> EVELYN: Then, if both of you are part of them, and you mention that there are three girls, who are that another person?
> 
> MAY: That would be Dawn, the genius brain. Always get an A mostly in the test. Like me, she also moved to Pallet Town a few weeks after I moved.
> 
> MISTY: Instead, she works as a scientist. But we don't want to spoil to anyone where did she works.
> 
> EVELYN: Okay then. So, how do you get into writing?
> 
> MISTY: Well, I was interested in writing when I was little, around two, I think. She usually reads or mostly, made bedtime stories. My sisters and I grouped together around Mom. My mom's stories usually revolve around romance, but sometimes she also has some elements of sci-fi, fantasy or even in the Wild West.
> 
> EVELYN: When do really start your love of writing though?
> 
> MISTY: Throughout my childhood. But it manifests from a simple hobby to a love when I was thirteen. I scored good scores for my English due to using the robust and complex word that my teacher wouldn't even imagine using it. I enter a lot of essay competitions and only won a few.
> 
> EVELYN: How about you, May?
> 
> MAY: I wasn't really overly passionate like Misty. As for how I got the passion, my father used to work as a book editor.
> 
> EVELYN: If that so, then, why does your father decides to quit?
> 
> MAY: First of all, he told me that the work condition at his company was harsh. Despite he's doing a great job, he is severely underpaid when he receives his payday. Then, he also told me that he wanted to write a book and not become a book editor. So, he quits and moves out to Pallet Town.
> 
> EVELYN: But why Pallet Town?
> 
> MAY: I would say the same thing. Even to this day, I never know the reason he chose that place out of many.
> 
> EVELYN: Ok, then. So, what do you do when you were the student of the University of Cerulean City, May?
> 
> MAY: Well, I worked as an editor for their magazine. I even wrote most of the articles, which is a daunting task. But I made it through.
> 
> EVELYN: And, what about you, Misty?
> 
> MISTY: To be honest, I only known in my university because of my short stories and poetry. Whenever I had an idea for a short story, for example, I would jot down the idea in my head inside my notebook. In the meantime, if my friend had an idea, I would the same.
> 
> EVELYN: That is interesting to note. So, May, where and how did you get the moniker of "Wendy Rose"?
> 
> MAY: Well, the name "Rose" came from Misty's mother's garden. I would let Misty tell you about this.
> 
> MISTY: Why me though?
> 
> MAY: Do you want me to explain every single of it?
> 
> MISTY: *sigh* My mother used to love gardening. She planted many types of flowers but her favorite one will always be the rose because it was the flower that my father gave to her.
> 
> EVELYN: Oh...but what it has to do with the name?
> 
> MAY: I love roses, and since her mother's name is Wendy, I chose to use "Wendy Rose" as my pseudonym. In fact, my notebook and my phone's wallpaper is a rose up close, with the garden blurred out in the background.
> 
> EVELYN: So, a rumor spread around the Kanto region like wildfire. It was sparked from a video from a teacher record a touching moment. Do you ever realize that the video went viral on social media? Can you tell us more about it?
> 
> MISTY: Well, it's more complicated than that essentially. You see, that lonely student is Jacob, who have been discriminated by the past student due to him being an exchanged student from Cerulean City. After May spotted him eating alone, according to her, she visited Jacob and have a nice talk. So, she came up with a plan.
> 
> MAY: I decided to give him a little surprise. So, when he sits on his typical table, we begin the plan. Suffice to say, the plan succeeds.
> 
> MISTY: Really well...to be exact.
> 
> EVELYN: Well, that concludes the interview. I know a lot of people want to know more about both of you. What do you want to say to the viewer at home?
> 
> MAY: I hope you have a wonderful day today. Be cheerful and smile for a day!
> 
> MISTY: I would give thanks to my loyal fanbase and the viewer because I appreciate being here. I would want to thanks my mother, who is at Pallet Town currently.

    As the interview wrapped up, as usual, Evelyn gives Misty and May a little gift. They thank Evelyn and took off. They decided to go around the city before going back to the hotel that the principal himself booked. After some driving along the road that separated the city from its beach, they have reached an old, abandoned building. Both Misty and May left the Porsche and give a little viewing around the building, a gym. But not just a normal gym. A Pokèmon gym!  
    Ever since the ban is held, many of the gyms were demolished while some are refurbished to become a museum. It's rather odd to see a standing, untouched Pokémon gym in a bustling city like Cerulean City. The gym, on the other hand, is in bad shape. The plant has taken over this, once gym. The vines hang on the ceiling and crawl up the wall. The painting is now faded with some area reveal the wood behind. The old Pokemon League is still up, albeit, losing its color. And finally, it's off-limit which, again, odd since it's right next to the beach, where everyone could see this.  
    For Misty, she felt a little sense of Deja vú. She feels like she has been there before. Another person. A familiar one. Another her, the other Misty, once stood on a stage, dared to battle any Pokémon wanna-be fighter with her Water-type Pokémon.  
    "Misty, are you okay?" asked May, feeling concerned.  
    "Yes, I am but I feel like I've been here before, "said Misty.  
    As they drive back to the hotel, May does some little research on the gym. When the car stopped, she used the time to show her findings to Misty. As Misty looks closer to the screen, a little old newspaper article from the pre-ban era popped up. There, a little girl, probably in her 10's at that time, stands on the stage while picture (limited at that time) were taken, but she took note that her face does look similar in a sense. She reads the article and found her name, Misty. She shrivels as May closes her phone.  
     "How is this possible?" May only shrug her shoulder, clueless about this coincidence. But one thing they both know, Misty might have a past life as a Pokémon trainer in the pre-ban era. Judging by how old the newspaper is, and the fact that Misty felt a little sense of Deja vù, it's very likely that this Misty dies a long time ago and 'reincarnated' as the other person, who is coincidentally also named Misty.

_End of Chapter 6_


	7. Misty's Dream Part 1

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Switching from Misty & May to Dawn, she and Professor Rowan are checking over their experiment of the creature found mysteriously on the street. After a little discussion and analysis of data they recorded on their computer, Dawn decides to take a peek and touch the skin If the creature. Suddenly, with a small bolt of lightning, the creature suddenly "resurrected" from the dead and went on a rampage. The creature was later killed.  
> In the meantime, May managed to create a friendship bond between Jacob and Red while Misty try to have some conversation with Sam. After a little chat talk, Sam finally confessed his love of Misty and try to kiss her. But with the intervention of the God of Coincidence, Ash somehow appears right before the kiss, which prompted Sam to abort the kiss. Unfortunately, Misty tells about it and anger Sam in the process.  
> In her recollection of her mysterious dream, she recalls her dream through the view of her past lives and her adventure. One night, she discovers an odd glowing crystal and touches the mysterious crystal. Soon, she switches her body to Dawn's, despite not gaining control. After the same incident, she wonders how would she use her newfound power.

     Dawn walks down a long, barely lit corridor alongside Professor Rowan, a renown professor to ever grace at the Sinnoh region. A large double door stands between them and the room. Dawn opens the door and lets the professor in before she follows suit. A room of scientific equipment I don't really want to explain in-depth fills the room with a team of scientists studying the creature.  
     The creature lies on the metal table with a metal stick, as thin as a needle, penetrate the skin. As Dawn and Professor Rowan, the lead scientist greets them and gives a little explanation of their 'research'.  
    "What have you discover?" asked Professor Rowan to the lead scientist. He leads them to a computer that detects the composition of metal found in various parts of the body. In this case, an anomaly found in the stomach of the creature. Dawn takes a little look at the analysis. It seems that the creature somehow eats an abundance of copper and magnesium, an oddity.  
    "Not only that, the skin of this creature is actually artificial, not natural. Even more surprising, this dated back around 668 to 624 B.C, or more specifically, during the Hyrule era." This discovery caught their attention. As the scientist continues their research, Dawn goes a little closer to the creature. It looks like a humanoid creature accurately depicted on the wall of an old temple found on Hyrule in 1935. It seems that this mysterious creature originated from that temple. How it got to Chrysanthemum City remain a mystery.  
    Dawn touches the creature for a little feeling, as to sure it is indeed artificial just like what the lead scientist said. Suddenly, a small bolt of lightning passed from her fingertip to the creature. Suddenly, the creature bolts away from its slumber, causing havoc in the room. As the scientist scramble for safety, two guards come through the door to deescalate the situation.  
    The creature limps to one of the guards and attacks his face. The other guard manages to 'kill' it in the nick of time. As the scientist regain their footing, Professor Rowan asked Dawn, "What happened?"  
    "I don't know. I just touched the creature and it suddenly went alive."  
    "What do you mean by 'alive'?"  
    "When I touched the creature, a flash of small lightning comes from my fingers and to the creature. And it resurrected from the bolt." Professor Rowan placed his arm on her shoulder.  
    "I don't know what kind of excuse you are giving me, but if you did tell me the truth, ask me about it" He casually walks out of the room while Dawn is standing there, feeling shaken from the incident. She immediately runs to him after collecting her work that was scattered on the ground as the lead scientist picks up the now dead carcass. 

    As the May's sunlight dawned over Viridian City, Sam stands in front of Misty's and May's apartment, fully dressed and bathed. In the meantime, Misty still felt half-awaken because recently waking up, as usual. May is watching her favorite morning show as Misty goes to the kitchen, still wearing her pajamas, stirring her freshly-made latte. Sam adjusted his clothes before knocking on the door. This time, Misty walks to the door and opened. Sam greets "Good morning" to both of them.  
    "So, should we going right now?" asked Sam. Yesterday, he purposed to go to the café for a little relaxation. May denied his offer as she will go to Red's apartment with Jacob this afternoon. Misty tells him to go inside while she is taking the shower. She quickly races to the bathroom while Sam is sitting with May, watching the morning show. After ten minutes or so, fully in her casual outfit and her laptop in her bag, she goes to the living room and tells Sam that it's time to go.  
    At Fris's Café, Misty types some words in faster motion as Sam, once again, orders some of their usual. Unlike the previous visit, before May even came here, where things went south over a little intrusion from her fan and Sam's outburst, this little leisure time between them has softened up a bit, for now. Many people mutter and whisper to themselves while looking at Misty in particular, while she is completely oblivious to the situation. In the meantime, Sam tells Misty, "You know, we've been known with each other for the past two years, and yet you rarely spent some time with me." Misty saves her work for now and places her laptop into her bag.  
    "Why don't we go out, outside from here?" asked Sam.  
    "Sure, we can go out now." Misty immediately replies. Instead of being excited, he only etches a not-so-convincing smile. He knows that Misty wouldn't be able to socialize with him because of her writing career She knows her more, despite being her friend for two years. But he had to go on with his, now-useless plan. After a little lack of interaction at the café, inside Misty's Porsche, they drive off to the nearby mall.  
    Red honks his car to get May's and Jacob's attention. May sits next to Red while Jacob sits at the back. Red turns the knob of his radio until it reached the frequencies of his favorite radio, which annoys Jacob as he despises this, in his word, a 'crap landslide of junk news and overused popular songs' radio station. But it doesn't bother Red in a single bit. Soon, they encountered Misty's car coming out from the carpark. Red lowers down the window and whistle (silent) at them. Misty notices them and, too, lowers her window.  
    "Where are you going, Misty?" asked May, where she leans over Red to shout.  
    "Going out with Sam for a while. I'll be back sooner or later," said Misty. As they zoomed off while waving at them, Red goes toward his apartment alongside May and Jacob. Like Misty and May before him, Jacob, being his first time here, looks around in awe with a spectacular view from the bottom. Red turns around and beckons them to come in. May and Jacob follow suit. Now, Red doesn't usually bring strangers to his apartment apart from his relatives and friends. But since May befriends Jacob, Red trusted him and have his allowance to enter into his apartment, but a bit low since he still hasn't established the 'friend ties' with him yet.  
    As her plan, May deliberately goes out to 'buy stuff at the nearest grocery store', promptly leaving Jacob and Red behind. A full minute passed by without anything to discuss. Moreover, Red is mute, so it's hard to communicate by mouth. After a while, Jacob breaks the silence by asking him a simple question.  
    "So, you only communicate with only your head and a grunt, aren't you?" Red only nods in respond. Soon, they start to chat with each other (wow, that was fast...). Soon, when May arrived, she is "surprised" to see Red and Jacob get along relatively fast, obviously knowing that since it was her plan after all.  
    In the meantime, Misty drives around the city for a while before Sam asked her a rather simple question, "Do you really love Ash at all?" Misty remains quiet at the moment. However, she decides to tune in her favorite radio station. Boy, the God of Coincidence struck her with bad luck as the first song to pop up is ...you guessed it... a love song. Annoyed by this, Misty switches to the next channel. But God of Coincidence has struck once again as the second song to pop up is also a love song. After a few switches, she had enough of his antics and closes it. Sam, watching the whole ordeal, decides it's best to remain quiet.  
    They arrive at the mall's underground park soon after. They jumped from store to store without much talking. Sam remains silent along the journey. They sit on the bench which immediately fills with strangers. They bought waffles at a store earlier, so, Misty munched her green tea-filled waffle while Sam only takes a bite of his. Misty looks at him and points at his waffle. Sam only shook his head. As Misty continues to munch, Sam whispers to Misty, "Do you ever consider me as a friend?" Instantly, probably oblivious, she nods her head, which hurts Sam deeply (yeah, you really hate that feeling of 'friend zone' by your crush).  
    Sam takes another bite of his waffle which already turns cold. Both of them remain quiet until they reached the car. Inside, Sam finally confessed, "Look, I really in love with you. I just can't say it aloud because I'm too embarrassed to say it. And now I know it's probably too late to the day it since you already have Ash." Misty's face first gets confused, but then, become redden, after realizing what he meant by it. Misty asked him, "Did you really meant it by 'consider as a friend' twenty minutes ago?" It doesn't matter for Sam, though, as he leans toward Misty, trying to get a kiss. Misty, undoubtedly, freaked out and moved back until her back touched the door. It seems Sam would have his chance.  
    But guess who's back? Yep, it's the God of Coincidence, and he's back again with some more mischevious deed. This time, he decides to give a little "nope" moment as, "coincidentally", Ash, who magically appears in the mall's basement carpark, somehow managed to arrive on time. Sam, noticing him, quickly moves back to his seat and wipes his mouths by his arm. Adding salt to the injury, Misty goes back outside and explained what had happened, which frustrates Sam and tries his best to get her back in the car. But it's too late now. Ash laughs at the blunder and the perfect timing from the whole situation. Oh, God of Coincidence. You cruel evil bastard!  
    "So, he almost kisses you at the spot?"  
    "Yeah, sorta like that."  
    "I'm not like that!" Sam shouted to avoid embarrassment. After waving goodbye at Ash, Misty returns to her Porsche while Sam is all murky from the whole blunder. Even Misty giggles a bit, which prompted him to scream, "Why do you even do that?" Misty only giggles even more before starting the engine and drives off. The whole journey was quiet at best, with music came from the radio to gives a little noise to an already silent scene. Once they arrive back, Sam stomps his way back to his apartment while May and Jacob, who are waiting for them to come, are confused at his sudden anger. Misty, not wanting Sam to ever forgive her, decides to remain quiet.

* * *

 

    _Ever since May shows me the picture of what could be my past life after that interview, I experienced strange dreams popping up in my mind. At first, it was simple. Me, floating mid-air, in a soundless, black void. The light above me only illuminates the surroundings as I float, face-up, with my eyes wide open. Oddly, I wasn't blind at all. Instead, I feel nothing. I tried to move with my conscious mind but to no avail. Suddenly, within the speed of the light, I was sucked deeper until I shocked myself out of my bed. Or it is?_  
    _I was in a bedroom, very unfamiliar to me. There, I heard the sound of a footstep. I hid under the sheet when the door opened. There, a woman stands on the door, looking at me pitifully. She asked me, "Are you okay?" I only shrivel as the woman walks closer to me. I try to scream but at the same time, I fell like I know this woman at all, as if she was my mother. Could it be that the woman is my past self's mother? She comforts me with a gentle scrub on my hair and I hugged her closer._  
     _"I'm scared," I spoke. My "mother" then tells me that there is nothing to be afraid of. Then, she sang a lullaby. Her voice is really soothing. As I sleep from the lullaby, my mind (me) tried to wake the other me. Soon, I can't see a thing. When I opened my eye again, I was no longer in my bedroom. Instead, I was in the forest, all along. I feel the determination in my blood. I was...smiling. With my fishing rod on my hands, I waited for a long time until something caught the bait. With the help of my mother, because I have a frail arm, I managed to yank a Staryu out of the water. Despite me not having my Pokémon yet, I was determined to catch this Staryu. So, I threw a Pokéball and it landed in front of it. As it turns to an electric aura before entering the ball, I hold my breath as the ball starts to wiggle. After a few struggles, the Pokémon finally gave up and now, I have a Staryu as my Pokémon. I am overjoyed when I finally catch a Pokémon. And Mom took notice of that. While my sisters were doing...something else, I was with Mom this whole time._  
     _My memory was hazy but I run away from my home because I want to prove to my sisters that I am worthy of being a trainer at the gym. I ride my bicycle all the way to a small river. I was fishing, probably to get the steam off of me. In a sense of deja vu, I saw a boy running toward my bike and decides to use it without my permission. Oddly, the boy looks very familiar._

    Misty writes all of what she can remember in her dream in her diary. It's late at night and May is fast asleep. Leaving her awake, staring at her diary with the lamp lights only the diary and its surroundings. She wants to write more but her memories only reach a certain timelapse and nothing further. She only grunts in frustration as she can't access some of the important memories forward. Feeling tired, she decides that it's best for her to sleep now and think of it tomorrow. And maybe also apologizes to Sam because of the incident. So, she switches off the light except for the bed light and dives right onto the bed. She cuddles her with her large blanket and finally, after a few struggles, is in the sleep mode.

    _I heard the sound of fire composing the night sky. I was the only one who still awake. But in my mind, it seems so real, as if we are both connected. To test my theories, I "instructed" my past self's body to grip my hands. And she does what I said. I said, "Amazing!" Suddenly, without my instruction, she decides to leave the campfire and wanders around a bit. I am not familiar with this forest and soon, I looked around and realize I was lost. When I was about to instruct her to go back, suddenly, I saw a light flashed from afar. Being curious, I walk toward the mysterious light. It's starting to get brighter as I get closer. Soon, I felt like I lose control of me. Suddenly, I fell from a small bank. I don't sustain any injuries aside from dirty clothes. Lies in front of me is a mysterious big crystal standing perfectly straight. I wonder how Ash look-a-like and Brock look-a-like didn't notice this._  
     _I have a sudden feeling rushing toward me. A whisper tingles my ear with its soft, soothing voice, telling me to touch it. In spite of my effort, the force is too strong for me to not resist the whispers. I crawled forward and forward until I was in front of the crystal. With my hand touching the crystal, my mind suddenly zooms into a dimension tube of pictures, somewhat like a flashback. I was in this tube for a while before my view returns, except I don't control as my past self. I try to look for a mirror but this body doesn't seem to be in my control. Luckily, whoever it is, is looking at the mirror, so I can see who it is. It's Dawn, my old friend._  
     _I don't believe it at first because I am dreaming right now. Besides, maybe I am thinking of her lately since I haven't seen her for a long time. But it feels too real for me to not being another imaginary friend back at childhood. Soon, someone asks Dawn, "We need to go now!" with a stern voice. Dawn quickly dusted her lab clothes and grabbed her spectacles. Suddenly, I phased out of Dawn's body and return to my normal body. Or what I think it is._  
     _I try to touch the table but my hand phased through like the desk wasn't there in the first place. I look at my hand and thinking, "How it is possible?" But I still say to myself that this is all just a dream. So, I was about to touch the door when I was suddenly teleported to a corridor. Surprised by the sudden teleportation, I look around and see Dawn and a really stern scientist walking toward me. At first, I thought they would notice me but no. They walk past me and even phased through me. "Maybe I am invisible to them," I thought to myself. So, I follow them to a large double door. Inside was the familiar stuff that I can associate with sci-fi fiction stuff. As Dawn and that scientist goes around the room, inspecting the data, I stand near the creature and bend forward to take a good look. The flesh looks realistic but I can see a layer of greyness behind those 'realistic' skin. How is this possible?_  
     _Dawn approaches the creature after finding out about the artificial skin. She inspects the creature and touched the skin. During that, however, I immediately place my hand over her shoulder. Suddenly, I feel a sudden bolt of electricity running out of my hand and passed from mine to hers and ended up at the creature. The creature suddenly goes berserk as scientists fled for their lives. Soon, the guard finally subdues, or rather kill, the creature, ending the sudden rampage. The stern scientist asked Dawn, "What happened?" Dawn explained that she doesn't know how that' happened. While that's happening, I look at myself in shock. "Did I do that?"_  
     _As they clean up the mess, I manage to have a glimpse of the paper that was held by Dawn herself before she collects her work. Dawn adjusted her spectacles and goes out of the room, following the stern scientist. I blink in confusion, wondering to myself if I am different from anyone. I mean, how could I did what I just have done? Moreover, when I touch her shoulder, a bolt of lightning suddenly, in the blink of an eye, zaps to the creature from me through Dawn. Maybe I imagine too much? I wonder how should I use my newfound discovery to put it into use._

_End of Chapter 7_


	8. Misty's Dream Part 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misty felt powerless as time goes by. Her dream is still happening and she can't find a way to stop it. May tells Misty that Dawn could help her. After describing the dream, however, Dawn is surprised because she correctly tells the exact incident that also happened to her as well. Then, she tells them that they should meet.  
> Aria is informed by the director to bring the gang to his office. After arriving, he informs them that he chose them as volunteers to help the students who organize the annual inter-school sports event. Coincidentally, it takes place in the same city where Dawn wants to meet them.  
> Misty experiences a different kind of dream, where she can leave her body. She follows Jacob to a house in a destitute area. She later found out that Jacob is visiting her mother and after leaving, acknowledge her existence despite not physically there. She gives Misty a necklace that brings her to the memory of her past life again, this time as an adult. She takes Star, her past life's adopted daughter to her workplace, which is a laboratory.  
> When she wakes up the next day, she finds that she is wearing the necklace that has been giving by Jacob's mother last night.

    The next day is the same typical day. Misty (and maybe I) is lost track of today's day. Monday? Tuesday? Her mind already focused on her, what probably is, the strangest dream she ever had. Misty had some headache from thinking too much. May leans over the door and asking Misty if she is alright. Misty doesn't speak a word. She only takes a really deep breath.  
    "I am worried about you, Misty."  
    "Why is it, though?"  
    "Sam looks all sour after what had happened yesterday. And you are having a little headache in the morning." May sits next to Misty while Misty curled herself and cries.  
    "What's wrong?" asked May. She has never seen Misty with that kind of attitude especially after what happened yesterday that upset Sam. Misty doesn't want to talk about what has gone over her head. Now, the dream seems to mess her up even more. For Misty, that dream stuck around like a pesky bug, singing and laughing with her mind being its home. But her "power"...something is wrong about it.  
    "I feel like I have an undeniable power in me. I don't know how I even got that in the first place." She then went on to explain the Dawn incident in her dream. May isn't sure if she is crazy because of the dream or she is the same Misty as she knows. Whatever the case, she trusted her. Mary leans over the curled Misty and says, "I should speak to Dawn about this." After speaking that sentence, however, gave May an idea. She immediately tells Misty to take a bath while she is going to her room and grabs her laptop. After the bath, Misty, with her casual outfit, goes to the living room where May is waiting for her. The laptop is already open with the image of Dawn visible from Misty's view. May asks her to sit down and explain the situation.  
    "What happened in your dream exactly, Misty?" For the sake of my insanity, Misty explains every nook and cranny of her wild stories. Dawn expect to be nonsense but when she described the incident correctly and even named Professor Rowan, her face changed to shock. " _How is this even possible_?" Dawn thought of it. Misty then explains that she was the one who "revive" the creature. Dawn asks her, "Do you seen the paper on the ground?"  
    "I only take a glimpse of it. It's about the experiment. What's the name again? Experiment DP 092806?" Dawn suspiciously look around her room before whispering to them, "Meet me at Hearthome City tomorrow. There, I'll wait for you there."  
    "Wait-" Dawn cuts off the lime before Misty could respond. May closes her laptop as Misty asked her, "What should we do now?" May is speechless because she never encounters such oddities more than ever.  
    "You heard what she said. We should ask the principal."  
    "I don't think that's a good idea. I think he might be sick of us going out of the campus for personal reasons."  
    "You have a good point." They spend the rest of the morning loitering around the apartment to pass some time.

    Aria wakes her sleepy roommate, June up by what I could describe as a CPR wake-up move. June only turns around and grunts in frustration. Aria tries it again, this time, June throws a pillow in frustration. Then, Aria devises a plan. She pretends to walks out of her room before she "loudly" explained to June, "Too bad for you. Kip wants to go on a date with you and he asked me last night to remind you. But you decided not to wake up in these hours. Well, see you later." Suddenly, in an instant, June suddenly jumps out of her bed and ran to the bedroom. Aria dusted her hand with proudness. Not bad for a future lawyer. As June runs out of the apartment, she quickly asks Aria where would he be. Aria points upward and says, "On the rooftops." June thanks Aria for the location before she makes a mad dash to the rooftop for a little date with Kip. As Aria closes and locks the door, the principal makes an unexpected visit. He is surprised to see Aria out of her apartment. He asks her where is she going. She explains that she's going outside for a while. The director then tells her, "I need you, Sam, Jacob, Misty, and May to come to my office."  
    "Why do we need to see you exactly?" said Aria.  
    "I have something important to discuss. Make sure to arrive at 2 p.m. sharp. You got that?" Aria nods. The director leaves her behind. Aria immediately calls Misty and informs them to come to the director's office. Then, she made other two calls from Sam and Jacob respectively. Aria sighs before walking off the corridor.  
    "Why are we here anyway?" said the confused Jacob. The others agree with his question. The principal brings out a large-sized file and gives it to Misty. Misty unwinds the rope that kept the file closes and takes out the content. Inside is a poster advertising the annual inter-school sports event held on June 8th to 11th, which is closer than today, being in late May. Sam raised his eyebrow. Aria raised her eyebrow. And so do Jacob. Misty and May, however, remain fixated at the poster, particular the event's location. Hearthome City (Thank you, God, of Coincidence. [You're welcome.]) They look at each other before Misty asked him why do they need them at all.  
    "We need some volunteer to help the Hearthome University students to decorate their school. And I choose you all because you like to help other people. Besides, you have the incident with you." He is right. They always volunteered for such an event like this. With Jacob joining along, it could be useful for him to interact and break out of his shell. Then, he decides to drop the bombshell, "I also asked Ash and Red to assist you. Ash is already here yesterday. He should be here by now." Both Misty's and Sam's eyes widened in surprise. ' _Did he say Ash?'_ Misty thought. Is that the reason why Ash suddenly appeared at the mall yesterday? Misty's face redden. The principal notice Misty's strange behavior and asked her if she is okay. Misty nods her head shyly. But he doesn't take that nod bait.  
    "Do you have a crush on Ash?" (Is he a detective in his past life or he used to be? How did he manage to correctly guess that?) The embarrassment intensifies, leaving Sam uncomfortable as he learned that the hard way. As Misty's face becomes even redder, May break the wall by changing the topic to avoid any awkward silence. Misty and Sam owe May their gratitude for helping them. After all of them agree to volunteer, he informs all of them that they will take the flight to there tomorrow. The date makes Misty and May as they can meet Dawn with ease. Maybe they will sneak out but at least they don't have to worry about that.  
    The sun has come down and replaces by the moon. It's a full moon, so the night is brighter than ever before. While May is looking outside form the window, amazed by the view, the same can't be said to Misty, especially when, taking into consideration, she would have to suffer the same dream that haunts her for a month now. But it leads her to wonder some of the questions that still lingering in her mind, like;

_Who places the mysterious crystal in the middle of nowhere?_

_Why does she have a power that even she can't understand?_

_Why does the dream keep on coming?_

_When does it stop?_

     Misty tells her that she wants to go to sleep despite it is 8 p.m., which is unusual for May as she always slept late at night because she had to work on her stories or sometimes, studying. And May took notices of it but she had a pretty solid reason. Misty must clear her mind before tomorrow to visit Dawn and tells her about the cause of this strange dream and how to get rid of it or subdue the effect at the very least. Regardless of any bad impact, I would say Mosty would do anything to stop the suffering. So, she lets her go to sleep. Then, May makes a call to Dawn and inform her that they would come tomorrow along with some of their friends. Dawn is pleased that they are coming but not so when May mentions the word. In the meantime, Misty immediately jumps into her bed and began to fall asleep, waiting for the next day.

* * *

 

    _Here am I again. But I feel like I am awake for no reason. Then, I stand up and look back, only to find me, sleeping peacefully. I walk to the door of my bedroom, only staring at the door. I then look back to the other me before I touch the doorknob. I was surprised when I was able to touch, which would be impossible in my dream. I open the door, creating a loud creak. Suddenly, May said, "Misty, it's that you?" I reply with a loud 'yes'. But then, she looks at the hallway. I can see that she is confused to see me outside. Then, she starts to walk toward me. I walk forward to tell her what's with her face, only for her to pass through me. "Has she saw me in the hall?" I try to wave at her so she could see me. After inspecting my room, May decides to close the door and, again walk past me. Am I invisible to her? As May reads her book, I sneak to the kitchen and purposely, drop the ladle onto the floor._  
    _May reacts to the drop. She walks to the kitchen and picks up the ladle. She places it back at the handle without even noticing me. Maybe I am a ghost? Soon, I phased through the wall and I'm now outside our apartment. I try to jump and dive, hoping I could, at least, float, but I only made a fool of myself and faceplanted myself on the floor. So, I walk around the campus, trying to found some interesting things. Suddenly, I saw Jacob go out of the campus. His odd behavior arouses suspicion In me, so I follow him to his car. I managed to get in his car before he drives off._  
     _We have arrived at Garrison Avenue, long considered the 'bad apple' of Viridian City. Even saying the name of the area sends a shiver down my spine. Anyway, he drives for a while before stopping at a house. The house looks badly damaged, from the outside. I can see the light from what I presume to be the living room. I keep following Jacob while entering the house. I decide to sit on a comfy chair (since Jacob can't see me) when Jacob shouted, "Mama, I'm back." An old woman, probably around the same age as my mother, walks out of her bedroom, next to the living room. Once she sees Jacob, she immediately cries in happiness._ _After a tearful hug, she asks Jacob to stay with her for a while. Jacob smiles sweetly but turns sour because he had to go back to the university. By the look of her face, she is really disappointed. She wanted to let him stay with her. But she knows he had to study to have a better life, not just her but also him._  
    _"_ _I wish you always to visit me. I am lonely in this house while you were away. Are you really start to forget me, Jack?"_  
     _"No, Ma. I didn't forget you. But I have to go now. I have some volunteering to do far away from here." I can see her mother's face of sadness. She never wanted Jacob, or Jack, as she called him, to leave her. But he is right. So, she lets go of his arm and said a final word before he leaves, "Take care of yourself." As he closes the door, I was to leave the house as well before she speaks, "And what brings you here, Misty Williams?" I turn around in shock. Did she...see me? If so, why this would be the right time to say it? Jacob already left the property, so I had to walk from here back to the university since I can't teleport, unlike the previous time. Also, how did she knows my name?_  
     _"How do you know I was here?" She didn't reply. Instead, she asked me to go back to my seat and wait while she picks up something in her bedroom. After a while, she brings an old box out and places it n the table. I look at her in confusion before decide to open it. Inside is a necklace with a Pokéball logo attached in the middle. It looks clean, probably rarely uses it or been kept nicely. But oddly, that necklace looks familiar to me. I asked her, "Why did you give me your necklace?"_  
    _"Are you sure you didn't forget this? Your past life wears this until she passed it to her adopted child."  I feel a slight headache. My view starts to get hazy until I fall flat on the ground, unconscious. When I wake up, I am no longer in her house. Instead, I am in a bedroom. I look around and found a mirror. I look at myself in the mirror. I was taller, curvier, and...well, curvy body. I am an adult. "Maybe this is the adult me in the past," I tell myself. But why? And how did Jacob's mother knows that? Behind me is two picture frame on the table. I pick up the slimmer picture. There, the past me piggyback a girl on an autumn day (based on the background). They look somewhat similar, aside from different hair colors. Other than that, they seem to be...happy._  
    _"Mommy!" A little girl storms into my bedroom and tugs my coat. I turn around, had to pretend that I am the Misty in the past. I crouch down and ask her, "What it is, sweetie?" But she looks at me in confusion. I thought I might have slipped up before she tells me that the other me never addressed her with "sweetie". I tell her that maybe I should start calling her 'sweetie' since she is my daughter and she smiles brightly. I silently breathe a sigh of relief. Then she asked me, "Can I go to your place now?" Fearing that I might slip up again and destroy the timeline, I said yes. She is overjoyed when she hears my response. She hops around in joy for a few seconds before she stops. I tell her that I must finish my 'makeup' first before going out. She shouted "Okay" before leaving the bedroom. I look around the bedroom to see where am I exactly. Luckily, there is a window next to me, so I look at the scenery. I can see the beaches and the sea from a few feet away. "Am I in the Alola region?" I asked myself. The region is obviously famous for its tropical beaches, hence why._  
    _I go out of my bedroom and into the living room. I admittedly envy at her house as it is spacious and open. I can even walk from here to the kitchen with ease. As the little girl sits at the chair, waiting for me, I tell her that I'm done and that we should go. She enthusiastically goes off the chair and holds my hand. We walk out of the house and into the street. True to its form, the city in the Alola region, whatever it is, is breezy and calming. The sound of the sea crashing satisfied my ear with such relaxing noises. A group of children passes us while they are running. I don't really mind them as my current objective is to go to the place. Except I don't know what it is. Fortunately, I don't need to as I have arrived at the place, which is a large building, a bit modern for its time. Or it is? Should've paid attention to History class back at high school._  
     _We enter the building and the receptionist greets me with a friendly smile. I reply to her back but then she said, "You look friendly today. Are you feeling well today?"_  
    _"I am fine today. And I bring her along." The receptionist then looks at her and said, "Hey, Star. It's nice to see you again." "Oh, so, that's her name. What a lovely name it is!" I exclaimed. After a little pinch In Star's cheek, she tells me that Professor Harris is looking for her at my lab. I thank her and look at my name on the wall since this place, which is a laboratory, has name plastered next to the entrance. It took some time but I finally found my name, Misty K. (Kasumi). "That must be my lab," I thought. So, I enter the lab with Star. There is a man wearing the lab coat standing in front of my desk, facing the wall, for some reason. I said, "Professor Harris?" He turns around and glad to see me and Star. He greets Star with a pinch at her cheek. Star rubs her cheek, probably because that pinch is rather painful._  
     _"Welcome back, Misty. How are you feeling today?"_  
     _"I am fine, thank you. So, why are you here anyway?" He looks at me in confusion. He places my hand over my shoulder._  
     _"Are you forgetting about the project?"_  
     _"What project?" I asked him clumsily. Before he could talk, Star intervenes and tells him that she also did the same thing to her before coming here. Professor Harris's face turns to understand and tells me that I might have a short memory loss due to stress over the years that culminates into this. Phew! Thanks, Star. So, he asks us to follow him. I also take this chance to carry Star up. She's a bit heavy but I can take care of that._

_I place her down on the table. As Professor Harris talks to his assistant, I ask Star how's the trip. She happily answers that she loves it. Then, she goes down the table and goes into the bathroom for some girl's privacy. I press myself against the glass window and look at the lab below me. There, a group of scientists walking around a large room with a big machine on one side. On the pedestal is a dummy of Charmander, out of many Pokémon they could replicate. Star finishes her business, just In time for the experiment to start. Star clings over my trousers as Professor Harris pulls down the lever. The machinery starts to function. A plane orange glow, followed by an indescribable orange and purple vortex appears on the machine. Star is amazed to see an experiment in action._  
     _Then, a scientist takes the dummy and throw It through the machine. The dummy is instantaneously gone into the vortex. Then, Professor Harris is walking to his assistant, who is analyzing the data that have been collected by the dummy. They are amazed by the anomaly. In the meantime, I look at Star, who is staring at the machine in awe, and smile. I never saw myself to smile at a stranger before. But then again, she is my adopted daughter in my past life, so it would make sense. I crouch and asked her, "After this, why don't we get some Ice cream?" Star immediately smiles joyfully and hug me in the end._  
    _I ask him we need to go and he gives me permission to leave. Then, the world began to fade as I inform her that we can get some ice cream. Star jumps with joy and screams "Yay!" repeatedly. I walk out the door right when everything went white. That Is the last thing I remember._

    Misty's eyes slowly open from the light. Her eyes didn't feel tired like before. In fact, she felt fresh. She looks at her alarm clock. It clocks in at 7:05 a.m. She is surprised that she wakes up early than usual. Then, she remembers something. She looks down and sees the necklace that was given by Jacob's mother are now on her necklace. She didn't have any recollection of the necklace on her neck. Besides, she wasn't in her body or a ghost last night, so it was impossible to have the necklace without physically going there.  
    She takes off her necklace and bathes. After changing to her usual outfit, she then wakes May up. When she wakes up, like Misty, May is also surprised to see her waking up early than usual. Then, she notices the Pokéball necklace that Misty is wearing. She asked her, "Where did you get that necklace?"  
    "It's a long story."

_End of Chapter 8_


	9. Misty's Dream Part 3: The Revelation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The gang is going to Hearthome City for volunteering. While on the trip to the airport, Misty fell asleep when looked at a name and transported to another Misty in the Pokémon timeline. Once wake up, she found out that when she is 'asleep', she kissed Ash without her knowing, which doesn't sit well for Sam.  
> After a day of working, Misty is in a new dream where all of the Misty she encountered met. Then, the past Misty drop the bombshell when she said that both her and Misty have 'superpower' in them. Then, she gave the file that she took when she is in another person, who is also named Misty to the present one and tells her to give it to Dawn.  
> After they have gone, she looks through the file and found someone named Misty Goodheart. She wonders if she is the one who gave them the power.

    ' _I feel we are destined to be together no matter how ridiculous it may be, like a soulmate. I have seen this strangeness before when I watch May and Red together. But ours is stronger than them. Could it be that something is happening later in our life that could test our relationship?'_ Misty can't stop thinking about it despite how nonsensical it was. She can't stop thinking about Ash, despite having no affection for him. Maybe a bit last month, but Red only has his revenge on Ash for embarrassing him and May back at the mall. Misty is only the victim of the scheme. May has finished her call with Dawn and tugs Misty, who is waiting for her. Misty is deeply subconscious that when she finally snaps out of it, May asks her if she is alright. She only nods in response.  
    As Aria and Jacob pack up their belongings in the van, Misty and Ash take the opportunity to have a little chat privately, which annoys Sam even more. He takes out the cigarette out of the box before asking her for a lighter. But Misty immediately throws the cigarette away, which Ash doesn't take for granted. He is enraged by it and asks her why did she do that?  
    "I think you need to stop smoking. It's bad for your health," Misty told.  
    "What is matter with that? I am completely fine with that." Misty isn't fooled by that. So, she raises her eyebrow and cross-armed, glared at Ash. A few moments of silence before Ash finally breaks the ice. He confessed to Misty, "Okay, fine! I'm doing this because I want to smoke so badly. There, I said it." But it wasn't enough for Misty. She points out the obvious flaw and asks Ash to recite his confession again with the missing sentence. Ash only grunts before recite his confession again with the sentence"...and I will never smoke again in the near future." Misty smiles and pats his shoulder before she goes back to the van.  
    "Took you so long," Jacob jokingly said. However, this does not sit well with Sam as he only grunts because of annoyance. As Ash closes the door, the principal informs him that a person will be waiting for them once they arrive. The van drives off to the airport which is far away. Only the song from the radio heard in the van. Everyone sticks to their business because there is nothing else to talk about.  
    Misty, who is sitting next to May, whispers to her, "What did Dawn tells you at the phone?"  
    She whispers back, "She asks me to come to the nearby café after we finished our volunteer stuff." Misty nods. But Ash notices their secret whisper and asks them what is their conversation. May only replies, "Secret stuff." But just then, Jacob, out of nowhere, jokingly said that Sam may be in love with Misty, which angers Sam more. He is about to slap him before Red tells (or signals) Sam to back off or else he'll be out. He reluctantly obliges. Then, Sam asks Misty what is his problem and why he only signals him instead of talking. She tells him that he doesn't want any ruff in Ash's van. As Ash kept on driving, Aria leans forward to changes the radio channel as she finds the song played is boring.  
    Unfortunately, the channel she changes to is reading news. But instead of changing it, everyone tunes in to the news. While most are average news caught their attention. The news anchor mentions that this Saturday, which is three days from today will be the 5th anniversary of Jeanette's sinking that killed 385 people, which shouldn't be happened at all. Ever since that fateful day, the government has strict rules and rearranging its rescue group to be more diligent and always respond on time. The sinking of Jeanette will be forever in the world's mind, especially among the Kantonian, both young and old as one of the worst tragedies.  
    However, Misty had a different thought than anyone else. A sense of familiarity, but not in a sense. So, she looks on the Internet, searching for any articles surrounding the tragedy. Both May and Sam notices her and take a little peek into her phone. Due to its infamy, she easily finds a list of the deceased with the flick of her finger. She scrolls down the page, looking at all of their name and bio. Then, she stops on a name, 'Leo Caldwell'. Next to the name and age is the picture of Leo, a little boy smile cheerfully, oblivious to his ultimate death. Her eyes fixated on that boy as if she had seen him before.  
    "Are you ok, Misty?" asked May. Misty only replies with a simple "Yes, I am fine."  
    "Why are you fascinated with that boy? Do you have a relationship with him?" said Sam.  
    "I don't know but I feel like I have known this boy before. I ca-" But before she could finish her sentence, she fell asleep. I wonder what would be the scenario.

* * *

    _I awake from a bed. Oddly, I wasn't in Ash's car anymore. Instead, I was in the room. My Staryu, Starmie, and Goldeen sit on the chair next to me. I look around more closely and then I realized that I am on a ship. Is this...the Jeanette? I was confused so I try to find any clue for confirmation. Luckily, the calendar is right next to me. I read the current month that the calendar is showing. August 1996. "Wait a minute, if this is the Jeanette, shouldn't the year supposed to be 2014, since in the car's radio, the news anchor mention that this Saturday would mark the 5th anniversary?" I began to suspect that this Misty that I control right now may not in my timeline. I investigate the whole ship. Then, I found the exquisite main ballroom. I am quite surprised to see many extravagant people who never took their money quite seriously._  
     _I found Ash on the deck, leaning on the rail. He looks sad and regrets. I approach him and ask what is bothering him. He mentions that he trades his Butterfree with a Raticate from its owner. He thought It is the best trade ever until he regrets his decision. Soon after, we heard chose happening at the main ballroom. As we look inside, we see an oddly dressed, kinda old school, clothes dude brings out what seems to be a Pokemon vacuum. Then, another one came to us and demand to hand over our Pokéball. Ash's response is to battle against him with his Pikachu and he easily beat him. Alongside Brock, who's done flirting with the girl, we stop them from taking anybody's Pokéball._  
     _Suddenly, the ship starts to rocks side to side. The captain reassures the passenger that everything will be fine as the St. Anne (that's the name of the ship) is unsinkable. I have the suspicion that this might not be the case since I watch Titanic. Is that a Titanic reference or he seriously thought that this ship is really unsinkable? Either way, my suspicion became reality as the next wave crashing at the ship. Soon, the captain bucks It out via a lifeboat. As Brock and I run toward the lifeboat, I see Ash traded with that same man again. He seems happy to have his Butterfree again._  
     _But then, his Pokéball drop and rolled along the floor. Ash has to catch it make it back with the strain of a hair. But he took so long, so we had no choice but to follow him. He gets his Butterfree but then, another wave hits the ship. The hit is so hard, we've been thrown to the nearby room and knocks unconscious. When I wake up, I notice that the bed is on the ceiling. I then realized that the ship has capsized and turned upside down. I look at the window at find that the ship Is In the mouth of a trench. We wake Ash and inform that we should be getting out of here. We walk to the stairwell but the water level prevents us from reaching the deck. So, I sent out Goldeen to scout the surrounding. While waiting, we are scared by the head of a blue-haired person. We pulled him up, only to found out that it was James, one of Team Rocket members. Wait a minute...how did I know this? How do I know him despite seeing him for the first time?_  
     _My memory was hazy of what happened but all I could remember is we are now at the surface, still alive and well. I could be traumatized by that but I pull it through. Then, Brock tells us the story of Noah and that he used a bird to scout the surrounding sea. Then, Ash brings out Pidgeotto and tells it to fly up and scout. Soon, it found Team Rocket and pull It back at the raft. We thought they were dead but they managed to wake up to avoid certain death. Since we can't find any land, we decide to stay in the raft till nighttime. The others went to sleep except me. I look up to the sky, amazed by the millions of stars brightly colored the sky._  
    _Then, Ash wakes up and sees me dazed in the sky. Ash gets closer to me and asks, "I notice you are acting strange today." I curl my body and refuse to talk to him as I don't want to ruin this timeline because of my actions. Ash then apologizes for the bike that he still from me. I only reply that I am fine with it. Then, a nametag appears on the surface. I pick it up and using Charmander's tail as a light source (of course, I asked Ash to borrow his Charmander first), I read out the name, "Leo Caldwell" Is this...? Suddenly,  I have the feeling of dizziness and about to fall into the water but Ash manages to catch me on time._  
     _"Thanks, Ash." He smiles and puts me back up. He returns to sleep while I still up. Then, I began to cough and what came out of my mouth is something I didn't expect. A feather? Why would I cough up a feather? I presume that I might be hallucinating so, I 'kept' it inside my pocket. After that, I return to sleep. I wonder how it would turn up when I get back._

    When Misty wakes up, she realized that she is no longer in the van. Instead, I am in an airplane, already flying to, what Misty presumed, Hearthome City. May notices me waking up and tells me that we are on our merry way to Dawn right now. Misty asks her what happened when Misty asleep in the van. May is confused at first but later found out that Misty is in her dream mode again. She tells Misty that everything is fine except she has a strange demeanor when they arrive.  
    "What actually happened at the airport?" Misty asked.  
    "You don't really want to know." May is being cryptic about what happened at the airport. Misty tries to piece together some clue that may appear in her dream with no success. Just then, Sam passes their seat, just in time for Misty to see his reaction. Based on his sour look at Misty, she correctly guesses that she may have something to do with Ash. So, she asks May where is he. May only moves her head behind their seat, indicating that Ash is sitting behind her. She looks behind and sees Ash is reading a magazine. When he sees Misty, he quickly covers his face. She goes back to her seat and asks May, "Did I accidentally kiss him?"  
    "You got it on the first try, " May jokingly said. Misty places her hand on her face in embarrassment. She screams internally as she had kiss Ash right in the spot. In front of Sam. Now she needs more than an apology for her past mistake. Then, May tells her, "I've been thinking about this. Why are you fixated on that boy? You even have a headache when you look at him."  
    "Did I? I thought I was unconscious back at the van."  
    "Really? You only have a headache and then start talking about Ash a lot."  
    "I swear I didn't know all of this. I was in-" Suddenly, Sam intervenes in the conversation. He angrily expressed that Misty is not being her friend. Soon, this became ugly as May stands up and defending Misty, which angers Sam more. Jacob and Red try to deescalate the situation while everyone (as many people in the current generation would do) record the situation. I wonder how many views this video may get if posted on social media.  
    "You really try to defend her despite she never even contributes to anything."  
    "She's my friend. You're her friend. A true friend is always there to help someone in need, not to bicker on."  
    "She kisses him in front of me. Alright, I confessed my love to her. But she never replies to my confession and what she does next? Tell her boyfriend here to avoid 'misunderstanding'."  
    "You are overreacting, Sam. Even if you confessed your love to her, that doesn't necessarily mean she will also love you at all." This goes on for sometimes until the flight attendant breaks up the quarrel. Misty insisted that she doesn't need to do that at all. But May smiles before she returns to her question that was left unanswered, "How did you manage to get the necklace?" Misty explains to her how she got it in a detail from following Jacob to a house to obtaining it from his mother. She also tells May that she experiences a dream where she was an adult and as a scientist.  
    "There is also another one, much different than that."  
    "And what things did you have from that dream?" She then scours her pocket and brings up two stuff, a feather, and the same name card. May first looks at the feather. At first, she thought plucked a feather from any bird or Pidgeotto. Then, Misty drops the truth behind the feather, "I coughed it up." She throws away in disgusted and Misty picks up again. Then, she looks at the name card. The name card seems to be soaked in water as the water damage of the name card is immense. She is surprised to see the name "Leo Caldwell" written over it. She places the name card in her pocket so she can show it to Dawn. The rest of the flight went off without a hitch.

    As they have arrived at the Hearthome Airport, someone is waving at them with a sign that says, "VCU volunteer. Your guide." Once they took a closer look, they make a shocking revelation. The person who is waving at them is none other than Dawn herself. Apparently, she deliberately takes the opportunity to become their guide, in the "just in case" section. Besides, Dawn herself lives here, so she would have known every nook and canny this city has to offer to her.  
    Misty and May quickly run toward her and hugs Dawn. At least they were happy to see each other in person. Then, she sees Ash and Red comes out of the gate. She signals them to come and join the group hugs. They both agree and join in, which left Sam, Jacob, and Aria confused with Misty clarifying them that Dawn is an old friend of them. Dawn moves between Misty and May and immediately after they left the airport, May gives the feather to her. Like her, Dawn is also confused about why she gives a useless feather to her. "I tell you why later," said May.  
    Being a guide (as a disguise), she mentions every popular tourist destination and even adds some trivia relating to that place. After much driving, they have arrived at Hearthome University. Students start decorating the front entrance while some are cleaning the campus. They were keen on the annual sports event. Besides, it's like the Olympic, where every university in the Pokémon continent would fight to the death to get their university to be the next tenue of this event. Anyways, the Hearthome university is more traditional than some of the others. But still, it looks beautiful and amazing to look at.  
    Once they arrive, the principal of the university, Mr. Hekyll, welcome them to Hearthome University. Ash, being the leader of the group, greets him politely and ao do the others. Then, Mr. Hekyll said, "And welcome back, Dawn. How's work?" Since Dawn mentions to them that she is a student of the university during their journey, nobody would be confused with the greeting at all. They took a tour around the campus and their assignments. Dawn also says that she can also help them if needed.  
    The girls (Misty, May, and Aria) are tasked with helping the student setting up tents and decorating the gym since all of the schools in different regions, from elementary to high school to the university, will come here for the event. The boys are split into two. Ash and Sam are tasked with carrying the equipment while Red and Jacob will help a group of students to distribute the flyer around the city. After their assignment has decided, they go to separate ways.  
    In the hall, most of the student is cleaning and decorating their gym with children's painting and ribbon, since this would be used as the venue for the elementary schools. Misty helps one student carry a pile of boxes full of water bottles to the table in front of the entrance. Dawn Is talking to May while sweeping the floor. They are discussing the strange dream Misty is experiencing for the past month. May tells Dawn about the two dreams she has both yesterday and when in the car. She then brings out the name card that was given by Misty to her.  
    "What do you think about this?" asked May.  
    "I thought she was crazy at first. In fact, when she tells me about that dream yesterday, I still doubt her despite how similar to my experience."  
    "So, do you believe In that?"  
    "A bit. I still have the doubt but with this, I could be wrong. I need one more evidence to support the claim. I need this for research." Then, Dawn places the feather and the name card inside a transparent bag and zipped it tight. In the meantime, Misty is having a conversation with the students at the entrance. The student in this university Is much friendly and extrovert. By this, she learned the way of living here while Misty Is also talking about VCU. Then, a girl in the group asks Misty about the interview.  
    "I watched the interview. I've been asking this question for a month. How do you make it to the mansion? I mean, Viridian City and Cerulean City are very close, but by what? Your own transportation?" The other girl nailed her elbow onto the girl's arm. Misty happily answers her seemingly unrelated question.  
    "Well, I went to the mansion via my car."  
    "What car did you use?" asked one of the male students.  
    "A sports car. A Porsche 997 Sport Classic, to be exact." The answer shocks anyone. How can a simple writer own a sports car? Misty added, "Well, I got it from a lottery. I don't know how I won but hey, lucky guess."  
    "What kind of lottery that offers a Porsche as their winner's prize?" Misty placed her hand over the student's shoulder.  
    "I get that question a lot."  
    Ash and Sam are exhausted by the time they finished their work. Those pieces of equipment were heavy as an elephant. But with their 'mighty' strength, they finished the job in two hours. Now, they have nothing else to do, so they are having a conversation with each other. Their conversation is nothing out of ordinary, it's only to know each other. But then, someone approaches them with the phone on his hand. The student asks If they are Ash and Sam and both of them nods. He shows the video of the quarrel in the airplane to them. One can say that Sam is pissed off by it. Ash luckily moves him away to avoid any altercation.  
    "Do you really mean it?" asked Ash.  
    "What do you mean?"  
    "Do you actually fall in love with Misty?" Sam glared at Ash for questioning him such a question. He gets embarrassed, judging by his red face. He does not want to admit it because he is too shy to say it, which Is odd for a person like Sam. Ash wraps his arm around him.  
    "I think May is right. Even if you confessed to someone, it doesn't mean that person likes you." Sam thinks about it. He squats down and re-thinking Ash's and May's advice.  
    "I think you're right, Ash." Sam's reasoning brought a smile to both of them. They both talked until the sun reached its resting point, waiting for another day to come. 

* * *

 

    _The café talking went by okay. Nothing interesting to note. Dawn asked me to come to her lab for 'testing' purpose and also gave me a newspaper article (in which I will mention later). After that, we went to do our girls' stuff before returning to our hotel. I instantly dive into my bed after some typing on my laptop, which makes May giggles. By now, I already know what would come. Another trip down memory lane from my past lives, or my alternate universe me. What would be their daily lives, both in their childhood and adulthood? Actually, I start to think about the article that started it all. Was it fake? Gah, if I knew the date of it!_  
     _I close my eyes and opened it again. I see myself in the mirror again, this time, as...the present me? This dream is unusual for me. I squint my eyes to have a better look. Then, I heard footsteps, following by the sound of a "Hello". I recognized that sound. I turn back, only to discover that I am in a red circle. I see two people, both the past and alternate me, standing on the circle. The alternate me is shocked to see me and her adult counterpart. The other one doesn't seem to bother that much._  
     _"Where am I?" my alternate universe me said, or I called her Misty #2, for simplicity sake. Misty #3, my past lives, calmly answer Misty #2's question, "I'm pretty sure that we are all connected with each other. In fact, I experienced a similar dream of controlling both of you." Wait...what Is she meant by that? Does that mean they experienced it before?_  
    _"So, it was you who made me look like a doofus, " said Misty #2. I shyly raised my hand and tells her that it was me all along. Before she could answer, the adult Misty intervene in our conversation. She points out that I can't be controlled at all, suggesting that I am indeed special among them. I was confused by her statement before she clarifying her statement by mentioning that I also have 'power' that can 'enter' someone's subconscious and even controlling them. She also tells that she also has the same power as me. Misty #2 is impressed when she hears that I and she have a superpower._  
     _"How did you know all of this?" I asked the adult Misty._  
     _"I am a scientist after all. When you come into my dream when I was 8, I was skeptical at first. When you came back for the second time, I am able to know, by you, when it will happen and set up any things that won't interfere with the timeline." I blink my eye in confusion before she explains more in detail. But she also tells us something else._  
     _"There is someone else involved in this. At first thought, I think it was her (points to Misty #2). But this person is different. A different Misty. She is nothing more other than the name, who Is also named Misty. And also, when I enter her body, I managed to find something. I also have this document when I was there." She then takes out a file that is stained with a coffee ring in the middle. The file explicitly titled "Experiment 27" in big red font with the picture clamped on with a paper clip. The file is full of paper with varying colors and damage sustained._ _She gives the file to me and tells that I should give it to Dawn as evidence. Before I tell about the article, she immediately answers that yes, it is her in the picture before the ban is in place. I wasn't shocked at all as she has the same power as me._  
     _After that, they both disappeared from my conscience. It was only me in a white void, sitting on the same red circle. I hold the file that the past Misty gave me. I  open the file and read some of its content. This experiment is rather complex, as it's involved a group of people entering this machine to 'resurrect' as another person in another universe. I check the list of people who participate in the experiment, and sure enough, I found a 'Misty Goodheart' in the list. What an odd family name. I look at her bio and it's detailed everything from when she came from to her birthday, her family, etc. I also found out that she is the same age as me, 23 years old._  
     _Is this even possible? Another me in another universe? Resurrected as me, or at the very least, once been resurrected as the past me and then goes to me? If that's the case, maybe that's the reason me and her have the superpower? But how can I see the other Misty who Is not in the same timeline as ours? Maybe I should let Dawn do the talk._

_End of Chapter 9_


	10. A Story Will End Sooner or Later

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After finishing the job, they stroll around the Hearthome Waterfront, which gives May and Dawn a chance to review the files. Far ahead, Misty and Ash took sweet time to chat privately. Back at the hotel, while Misty and Ash are talking on the rooftop, May and Red are left alone in the room.  
> When she woke up, however, she found out that she had asleep on Red's bed with him all night but she wasn't really that surprised. To convince Jacob, Misty tells him to meet at his mother's house. Soon, when they are about to leave, Misty stumbled upon Gary, her long lost childhood friend, who left Pallet Town a long time ago. The feud between Jacob and his mother occur when Jacob refused to give Misty the box because of the promise she made to him despite his mother's protest. Soon, they sort it out and hugs.  
> Meanwhile, Misty talk about how's life for Gary after given a chance. Gary wished to return to Pallet Town with the others.

    After they have finished the volunteer work for today, they decide to stroll around the waterfront on the coast of the city. The sun beautifully set a bright orange sky. The cloud cast a long shadow far along the horizon. Misty playfully balances on the small barrier with a wide surface. She reminiscing her childhood days where they walk along the horizon while she balances on them. In the meantime, Dawn and May talk about the file that May sent to her in the morning. She is indeed surprised when she saw the picture. Of course, she doubted the legitimacy of the file, so May brings the file along.  
    While everyone else takes some relaxation, May and Dawn snatch an opportunity to discuss the file. Although it is indeed true and not some photoshopped photo, Dawn still doubts its legitimacy. She flips through paper after paper, looking at the finer detail. Then, she takes out what seems to be a testimony from someone who is involved in 'Experiment 27'. Some were odd, as this entry;

>   **July 13th, 2014**
> 
> _**'We follow Subject #34 into a dimension of ponies which have intelligent and able to rule a kingdom with magic. We also found out about its alternate world that is similar to us but different anywhere. When Subject #34 enters the portal to this alternate world by sneaking in, Subject #34 has reached to a high school called Canterlot High School.'**  _
> 
> **_Subject #34, now in a different form, managed to sneak into the school, which oddly doesn't have security cameras, for some reason. There, many students walked around the school, from the lobby to the classroom. Entering the crowd, he happened to stumbled what seems to be an alternate reality of a pony we had just met. Obviously, though his cover was blown, he quickly ran away while a student tells him, "Where are you going?"_ **
> 
> **_Once he is at the safe distance, he realized that his pendant, the teleporter, has gone missing. He must have lost it when he bumped into her._**  

     That's odd. Dawn looks at another entry with another unusual description. 

> **_ July 18th, 2014_**
> 
> **_Subject #56, goes by the alias Primary, has befriended a powerful 'sorcerer' that somehow bends four main elements, Water, Fire, Earth, and Air. According to the other friend that she also befriended with, he is the Avatar, a legendary bender who passed down from one generation to another by reincarnation._ **
> 
> **_Primary was able to speak with this Avatar named Kai and he tells out his personal story. We were able to have some stories behind his life before his jealous girlfriend, Aileen Lee came storming in and pushed Subject #56 away. When Primary stands up, Kai is, obviously, mad at her._**
> 
> _**"She is a spy!" she exclaimed. Primary tries to clear up the misunderstanding. She told her that if she is indeed a spy, then an entire village would surround the homestay and capture all of them except Primary. Suddenly, in pure luck, Razor, one of his companions, arrives at his room and told him that the villagers are coming with the Gan Shen army.**_

     'What?' Dawn asked herself. What does this mean? And what it had to do with Misty, of all people? Misty soon arrives and scoots into their conversation, just in time because Dawn seems to needed Misty for one simple task. She takes a small tube, uses for blood and DNA samples and asks Misty to spit in her mouth. She further explained that she needs it because the feather that May gave to her yesterday had DNA on it. She suspecting that Misty's DNA could be matched with that. With a solid explanation, Misty, without hesitation, spit into the tube. Gross? Yes. May would agree with me with that disgusted face.

    Far ahead of the group, Ash and Misty stroll through the pier. Ash places his hand behind his head as they walk slowly with their leg lifted up in a robotic movement, almost right-angled. They took some time enjoying the view. Then, Ash had broken the awkward silence by saying, "You know, you look cute with that jacket of yours." Other than her usual clothes, her yellowish-green jacket stands out the most, especially during springtime. Today us rather chilly evening, so it makes sense for her to wear it.  
    Misty appreciates his snarky compliment and actually blushes. It's rather uncharacteristically weird for Misty as she never had any interest in Ash before, aside from the incident. Yes, she had a crush on him before during the childhood days. Maybe the flame that laid dormant had just reignited once again? Probably, but still odd.  
    "It's been a while since we walked down the pier back at Pallet Town," said Misty. For Ash, it is rather true. The evening orange sky is about to change into night, so Ash rallies the gang back to the hotel. But, even back at the hotel, Misty and Ash are having a real conversation, the very first for many years. Time does flies really fast. As Misty sips down her latte, Ash makes a little innocent joke and they both laughed.  
    "I can't believe that you did it. Become the best writer that you wanted to be. Look at you. On the interview with the best journalist in this world."  
    "How long it's been? A month? It almost seems like it happened yesterday when it did. Call it fate, but I am really determined to be the best writer of all time. I would etch my name on The Hall Of Fame for Writers alongside big names."  
    "Wow, how ambitious you are." Both Misty and Ash, despite living far apart, able to reconnect their friendship ties really well within one night. Then, what about May and Red, you may be asked? Well, here are their stories.

    May knocks on Ash's and Red's room. Since Ash is at the rooftop with Misty, Red is the one who opened the door, which actually shocked May. She asks Red where is Ash because she needs to talk with him. Red points upward, giving clues to her that he is on the rooftops.   
    Red welcomes May while she is for Ash to come back. Red sits down on his bed and stretching his arm. He grabs his towel to take a shower. While Red wraps his towel around, behind May, of course, May said, "How long do you have been living with Ash?" Red finished taking off his pants but decides to wait for a while. Red lifts all of his fingers from his right hand, meaning he's been !living with him since graduation.  
    "And, how's it felt like when living with him?" Red sways his head left and right with an 'It's fine' face. Of course, Red wanted to tell more but he's mute, so he's only can express his thought by his movement. Then, she takes out her textbook from her beg that she took from hers and began studying. Red takes a bath while waiting. After a while, Red comes out from the shower, all clean. Of course, he exposed his magnificent abs to May, who lies directly from his bed.  
    "Nice abs, " she jokingly tells. While this is the first time May sees muscular abs, especially from Red, she is rather okay with his appearance while other girls, if he is ever that famous, would hellbent of getting a glimpse at 'bad boy'. He put on his nightclothes, which has a quote plastered on the front of his black shirt, ' _There Are More Oddities Here Than You Thought_ '. May continues to study for the mid-term exams held next month.  
    Misty and Ash part way once In front of his bedroom. They both have a good night hug before Misty goes back to her room. As Ash opens the door, he hears something peculiar. A little conversation whispers into his ear. He goes a little closer. Once he enters his room, he found out that the room is dimly lit, which is odd as Red would never lit a dim light without him already enter the room.  
    Upon closer inspection, he found May and Red sleeps together in his bed. He looks at his watch and it said 11:00 p.m, a reasonable time to fall asleep. They didn't drink heavily on alcohol nor stripped down their clothes. You probably guess what was going on here. So, she sneaks back into his bed and went to sleep without interrupting the moment. In the meantime, Misty is confused about May's absence in their room but later found out that she must be at Ash's and Red's room. She thought that she might be talking to Red while they were upstairs. Instead of going back and call May, she instantly dives onto the bed and catches some Zs. Besides, May doesn't mind about Misty sleeping without her at the very least.

* * *

    _Once I wake up from my bed, I am in the familiar white void that I'm used to. I jump out of the bed and scream my name so my other self would appear. No response. Guess there are busy at this point. So, I decided to look around for anything. Soon, I found a door standing in front of me. Since I got used to all the oddities I encountered, I wouldn't take time to think of its existence._  
     _I open the door to see what is on the other side. There, I came across a flight of stairs that lead to a room. Once I stepped out of the void, the door slams shut behind me. I try to open it but the door won't budge. Now, I'm trapped in a flight of stairs that leads to something. I muster my courage and decide to go down and enter the room._  
     _I enter into an observant room with big glasses covers and the machine behind it. The room isn't really spacious, only studio-sized. Multiple stacks of neatly stack files build up from one side of the room. I look only at the files on the top. A lot of these are rather old, dating back from 2005. Most of it, from what I can see, is made in 2014, the same year the file that I got from the past me. I look at the digital clock. It's 10:05 a.m on August 6th, 2018. Then, one file caught my attention, a file from late November 2014._  
     _I flip over the cover and look at its content. There's the bio of Misty Goodheart and the other participant, of course. But there is another bio that I never saw before. There is also a picture clipped on the paper. I take the photo a closer look. A little girl with long, purple hair alongside what I presumed to be her father. They seem to look happy in the photo. I try to take it out but it slipped out of my hand. It softly landed beneath me, so I picked it up. But it landed face-side down, and there is a little writing behind the photo. I look at the writing behind the photo. It reads 'Dear Marie'._  
     _The bio is actually a diary entry from her father, I presume, expresses regret and anxious as he only wanted to see her again. I read the excerpt from his diary entry;_

> **_September 12th, 2008_ **
> 
> _**I began to regret my actions. It's been a month ago but the regret cuts deeper, forming holes in me. I am a wicked man, obsessed and cursed with the knowledge I have obtained. How my deed has finally come to collect my debt in the form of my daughter. If I only see it earlier.**_

_This is really interesting. So, I began searching for another excerpt that could be useful for information. I came across another excerpt from a month ago, as previously mentioned._

>   ** _August 12th, 2008_**
> 
> _**I took Marie to my lab. At the very least, she really loved here. While Marie played around, I checked out the data that my assistant had discovered two days ago. After much discussion, I told Marie to hold my hand and never step out of the line. She powered up the machine and within seconds, the inner core began to twirl and spin at a faster speed.**_
> 
> **_Suddenly, a mini statue of a cute creature came out from the machine. It was a success. But the joy won't last long as the machine starts to fail. She told me that something is overloading the power and the machine start to break up. I told Marie to run but at the last moment, her hand slips from my hand. I turn back to grab her when suddenly, a bright light blinded me and my assistant. When I regain my vision, I realized that Marie is gone. I screamed her name._ **

_So, is this the purpose of the entire project? A project to save a little girl that has been sucked into a void. If that's the case, then what's the point of using participant? Unless, of course, they were used as a test subject. If it is, then why still funding this project. There is a lot of twists and turns about Experiment 27. I decided to look around. Soon, I opened the locker and see an abundance of files piling up the space of the locker. I scoured the locker until I came across a file recently made. I flip over the pages and shocked to see my name and May's on here. I flip to another page and, surprisingly all of my friend's bio is in this file. Mine is apparently unique as a sentence, written in red, is written below my bio, stating that ''This should be Misty's other self in the different universe. Lucky she got the person with the same name.'_  
    _I smirk at the snarky comment. I slide the picture into my pocket and carry the files. Now all I have to do is to wake up. I thrust myself as if I wanted to fly. But when I open my eyes, I am still there. I tried again. Nothing. 'Guess I'll be staying here for a while,' I whisper. I look around to find something intriguing. I check every file that I can. Most of the files I'm looking either not relevant to the experiment or the information is rather similar to minor unless addition. But there is one file that piques my interest._  
     _Mostly about the bio of these participants and their respective alternative of themselves or 'body' as they called. Misty Goodheart is one of them. I read the 'body' she had taken for this experiment. I was quite shocked to learn that I am not the only one she had taken control of. In fact, there are a dozen people she had control over, mostly female. Two people named Yumi, Kai, the same person who proclaim to be the Avatar, Katie Sapperine, Elliot (badass name, by the way) and more. But she is special than the other participant, based on the quote below her bio, stating;_  

> **_Misty Goodheart is, undeniably, a unique individual. While most of the participant take control of their respective 'body' from another world, her subconscious is all it takes, which is surprising given that such cases as this rarely happens. Which means that her 'bodies' are independently moving without her despite she is truly in their mind._ **
> 
> **_Another thing to note is one of her 'bodies', Misty Williams, can foresee her alternative and her past lives as well. Not only that, she can gain control of them and/or interact with other people not only in their respective timeline but also in hers too in the ghost form. This baffled us as the 'body' never had this kind of powers the same as the participant. We thought it could be caused by a bug in the system. We tried to understand the anomaly of this strange power to no avail._ **

_Hmm... I scratch my head In confusion. Many questions came into my mind. At this moment, I began to wonder what is the true purpose of Experiment 27 based on this note. I shake my head so I won't be distracted. It seems that I am special among the other 'bodies'. I wonder how Dawn and May would react to this. Maybe I should take some of the most interesting ones._

_~•~•~•~_

    It's already morning at Hearthome City. May wakes up, as usual, only to find out that she wasn't in her room. She realizes that she must have dozed off while studying. But she didn't feel embarrassed by the situation. In fact, she smiles at Red, who is still sleeping with his abs exposed. She leans against his cheek and kisses him. "Thanks for the sleep, " said May. As she leaves their room, she writes a little note for Red and slips under the book he usually reads. When she gets out, though, she is shocked to see Misty stands next to the door. She is indeed expected her to sleep there, so she wakes up in the early morning and goes to Ash's and Red's room.  
    "How long did you stand here?"   
    "For a few minutes." Misty laughs afterward. In the meantime, May asks Misty If she got any. Misty quickly pulls out the photo from her jacket and shows it to May. Of course, she is truly confused when she sees the photo before, especially the girl and, what she presumed to be, her father. Misty only smiles unnatural, knowing full well that she has a lot of explaining to do.  
    Jacob looks at Misty's and May's room to see if Misty or May is there. He knocks on the door and tells that it is him along with his intention. Soon, he sees both of them coming toward him. Jacob walks toward them as they continue to talk about the mysterious photo. Once they see Jacob is heading to their way, they say a friendly 'Hello' to him, unsuspecting of Jacob's true intention.  
    "What brings you here?" asked May after Jacob is closer to them. He scours his pocket and pulls out a folded letter. He then gives it to Misty, who, according to him, wanted to deliver the letter from a mysterious girl. He also mentions that she doesn't want anyone other than Misty to read the content, which is oddly specific.  
    "Do you know what's the girl looks like?" said Misty. He describes the girl as a medium-height girl with long purple hair. Both Misty and May look at each other before May shows the photo to Jacob and asks if she is the one. He nods his head in agreement and even asks how did she get this photo.  
    "Oh, I almost forgot. Misty, I have tried to ask you this simple question before we even set foot here," said Jacob.  
    "Sure."  
    "How did you have my grandmother's pendant? I'm sure that my mom kept It well in her home." Misty sweats immensely as she shuts her mouth tight, not letting any word from escaping. Even if she asks the truth, she knows that Jacob will not trust her, calling her a liar. But, she decides to tell him anyway. He thought that Misty might go insane. Misty had to clarify and reinstate her claim to the confused Jacob.  
    "So, you mean you enter my mom's house in ghost mode and she asked you to take it?"  
    "Well, that is a rather simple explanation for this."  
    "But still, why did you follow me all the way?"  
    "Well, I was suspicious because you came out In the middle of the night. So, I followed you. I didn't expect that you were going to your mom's house." May had to break the fight before it goes out of hand. But, Jacob still didn't believe what Misty says is actually true. So, they take Jacob into their room and Misty gives all of the files she had collected from her dream. May is also quite surprised to see multiple files while Misty is all smirking to all of the files she had collected.  
    "What is this? Setup for an ARG that you ladies made?" Jacob still doesn't believe it. Then, Misty hands him a file and tells to flips to the pages she marked with the yellow sticker. He reluctantly flips over and notices that his biography. Not only that, the biography even had some of the finer detail that often overlooked like his family tree from generations ago, even before the practice of catching Pokémon become a thing and before the ban under the Pokémon Rightful Act law. Despite being amazed, he still doesn't believe Misty, even telling her a stalker. Both Misty and May grunts in frustration and decides for a final effort to make him believe. Before it could happen, Sam and Aria swoop in (since they forgot to close the door) and Sam tells them they have to go back to Viridian City.  
    "What's with all of the files piling up over there?" asked Sam. Misty goes past Sam and Aria and out of the room. Both Sam and Aria are confused about Misty's strange behavior.  
    "We'll explain that later."

    Today is their last day of the volunteer. Once at the airport, Mr. Hekyll thanks all of them for helping and asked May to send his regard to the principal. After a group hug with Dawn, they wave goodbye to Mr. Hekyll and Dawn. Jacob looks through the files that Misty gave to him. While most, for him, is nonsensical, an article has caught his attention.

 

> **Daily Alola News**
> 
> **July 23rd, 1964 issue**
> 
> ** FACILITY DESTROY! NONE SURVIVED! **
> 
> _**PŌMAKA'I, ALOLA-** A huge explosion occurred at a facility on the outskirt of the city at 2:32 p.m., killing all of the staff inside. It all happened when the resident heard and saw a huge explosion from the hill. The emergency services were bombarded with calls from people who witnessed the tragedies. Police were confused as to what was causing the explosion since the facility have been destroyed into oblivion, barely support the mostly destroyed facility. All of the staff, including the head scientist, Dr. Harris Kennedy, were perished from the explosion. The cause of the explosion is yet to be determined._

    Jacob is left confused about the article as his mother did speak about It but never extended her story beyond at that point. Then, he began to think about a thought he came up in his mind. He leans forward to Misty, who is sitting in front of him, and whispered, "Misty, does your past life had a daughter?" Misty turns around and whispered, "Yes."  
    "Does the name of the daughter is Star Kasumi?" Misty is left stunned and speechless. How did he know that name? Wait, she thought. She got this necklace from Jacob's mother. Since Jacob knows the name of the daughter, could that mean... She turns around and tells him to go meet her at his mother's house after this. Jacob is about to ask why before the announcement that they have arrived at Viridian International Airport. "Maybe, next time."  
    As promised, both Misty and Jacob arrived at the house in Garrison Avenue. Misty brings the necklace along as evidence. He knocks on the door and waited for a response. The door opened and Jacob's mother is surprised to see his son home. His mother then turns her attention to Misty and greets her as well... as they have met before (in which they do), which surprised Jacob. She welcomes both in and takes a seat in the living room.  
    Jacob's mother then set up teas for all three of them as both Misty and Jacob sit on the old couch. The sound of cracking from the sound will make Misty's ear screech in a tingle. Jacob's mother places the teas on the tables, then sits on her favorite old chair. Misty sips on her tea while Jacob asks his mother if she had met Misty before. She looks at Misty before telling Jacob that she does, which shocked Jacob. Misty, on the other hand, remains quiet throughout the conversation. Misty's cup is empty mostly with a little puddle of tea still sat on the bottom.  
    "I think we have enough talking for today, " said Jacob.  
    "I think so. We have to go now. See you soon, Mrs. Birch."  
    "You're welcome, Misty. Keep him accompany." (What?) But, as soon as Misty opens the door, she is surprised to see a familiar face. Alright, I give you a quiz. Which character do you think will revealed soon? If you guessed Gary Oak, then ding ding ding. YOU'RE CORRECT! (typical game show buzz). Back to the story, as Gary is distracted with his phone, she said, "Gary?"  
    "Hm..." He looks up and sees Misty, who is confused and startled by his sudden appearance. Like Misty, Gary, too, is shocked to see his old friend. Jacob's mother looks over the wall and sarcastically said, "I guess you two will be staying here a little longer."  
    The clock tick at a rhythmic pace. There is only silence and awkwardness in the living room, especially, Misty and Gary, and Jacob since he's stuck between. On the other hand, though, Jacob's mother seems to be pleased about the "sudden reunion". Finally, Gary breaks the silence and asks her, " Why did you call me to come here?"  
    "Well, I called you because I was expecting her to come." Jacob grunts as if he knows that all along, which would be plausible while Misty and Gary are left puzzled. Misty awkwardly tells how is life for Gary since they last met and she gets the normal response. In the meantime, Jacob's mother tells them that she needs to 'go to the bathroom' for a while. While she's gone, Misty is about to ask Jacob about his mother before Jacob immediately tells her he will explain that later, not giving her a chance to speak.  
    Jacob's mother finally returns with another box places in the middle. Jacob immediately protests his mother, which gives the cue to both Misty and Gary about what's about to go down. Jacob quickly snatches the box away and runs back to the storage room before his mother angrily Instructed him, "Jack Theodore Birch, come back here with that box at once!" Misty leans toward Gary to ask if that is his real name and Gary calmly tells 'Yes'. Jacob's mother raises up and scolds her son and the feud begins. Misty and Gary only spectate what happens in the background.  
    "I think it's best to leave them alone for now, " Gary tells Misty. As both of them sneak their way outside, Jacob's mother spotted them. She tells them to stay there and goes back to the storage room to retrieve the box.  
    "Mom, why are you being like this? You have promised me never give away that box to anyone. I have kept that promise for years to this day. Why do you have to break that promise?" Mrs. Birch turns around and looks at her son. How can she say 'No' to him? After all these years... She places the box on the coffee table and walks slowly toward Jacob.  
    "Jack, I never made that promise because this is a family secret. I made it because I know that one day will be the day when it all happened. I passed the family necklace to Misty because I tried to bring closure to a neverending story of regret and guilt started over another place. And Misty and the others will end this once and for all."  
    "Mom, you know this is just a bedtime story you made up when I was a kid."  
    "No, everything is indeed true from what I said. Yes, some of them are ridiculous but all story must come to an end, whether it is good or bad."  
    "Yes, I know but all this time, I never believed it more than a story." Jacob rethinks for a second. Maybe his mother is right after all.  
    "If what you say is true, then I believed it. I'm sorry for being harsh to you and didn't believe, Mom." They both sort out and hugs together. Misty smiles at the resolution while Gary unmanly cries in happiness. Jacob's mother gives him and tells him to take good care of it, him and Misty. "I promise, " he whispers. As Jacob waves goodbye to his mother, Misty has a little time to talk to Gary. Mostly about what happened after he moves out of Pallet Town and the past event for Misty up until this point.  
    'Well, you have quite a journey there, Misty."  
    "Yeah, I guess so. Have you been in touch with Brock this lately?"  
    "I still get in touch with him. In fact, he's actually here, in Viridian City." Misty's eyes are open wide, signaling shocked and surprised to her. Gary then jotted down the address of Brock's whereabouts. Misty thanks Gary for the address  
    "I wish we could go back to those days again. I began to lose them as I grew older before you came. All of them came back to me and I feel nostalgic again."  
    "Yeah, I wish we can go back to Pallet Town again?"  
    "Hey, Misty. Aren't you going back to VCU now?"  
    "Oh, I have to go. See you later." The time had cut short but it is enough for Misty as she started her car and drives off back to the university. As of Jacob's mother, she sits on her lazy chair while yells, "Gary, why are you sitting there? Come on, we have a job to do." Gary doesn't mind that he had been talking that way. Gary goes into her house to begin the chores of cleaning the backyard.

_End of Chapter 10_


	11. The Unexpected Turns True.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Misty learns the truth about Jacob's mother abilities but didn't tell May. Everything has turned to normal for now, aside from the random incident experienced by May at the bathroom. The gang, alongside Gary, went to Brock's job place, where they were shocked to learn that Brock is a CEO.  
> Then, the unexpected has happened. Their apartment has been ransacked and the files have been stolen. Misty turns aggressive toward May, who tried to comfort her, because of the thought of breaking her promise with Misty G. While Misty sat in her bedroom, May, Sam, and Aria plots a plan to prove that someone is messing her up by setting up the camera. Unexpectedly, May found herself inside Misty's mind alongside the other Misty.  
> Mrs. Birch (Star Kasumi-Birch) gives her mother's journal to a stranger in hope to 'fix the mess that could consume them all'. And I (the author) unexpectedly break the fourth wall by mentioning how the fic has turned into a part of an Avenger level complex universe in this chapter and the summary.

    Misty didn't tell May about what happened back at Jacob's mother's house because she was thinking about Jacob's explanation. ' _My mom can, somehow, allegedly see the future and other things that can't be explained at all. If what you say is true, that you are the reincarnation of my grandmother, whom I never met, I suspected that she may help you 'closing the story'._ Everything doesn't sense at this point. How can she possess some kind of power like me, despite being an adopted daughter? Misty needs some explanation from her past self. For now, she needs to take that thinking off the table for now as she focuses on her story. The story progresses well aside from some minor turbulence along the way. She reviews her past sentence and elaborates more on another sentence.  
    In the meantime, May finally has time to do some journalistic writing under her pseudonym, Wendy Rose. This time, she was tasked by the English Magazine Committee on their struggle and obstacles they faced to reach their dream (since they become a celebrity among the student). May wouldn't hesitate to think through as she quickly began writing, only to stop for a little sip or correcting some mistakes. It seems like both Misty and May are busy at this point.  
    May has finished her work and cast aside for later. She takes a peek at Misty, who is sleeping on the desk while her laptop is still running. For May, she is like Misty's caretaker. She nudges Misty's shoulder to wake her up. With the saliva still flowing down the mouth, she has been escorted by May to her bed while May cleans up the saliva with a tissue. She closes her laptop while Misty quickly sleeps within seconds after touching the bed. She prepared to take a shower as May didn't take one since evening.  
    May brushes her teeth, as usual, nothing suspicious there. She spits out the bubbly foam toothpaste out and rinses her mouth. When she looks at the mirror, she is shocked to see an apparition in the mirror. She falls down to the floor because of the apparition before it disappeared completely. She looks at the mirror again, just in case if the apparition is still there. Luckily, it isn't there anymore. She stands up at her feet again, thought to herself that she might have gone crazy and made an illusion of a person in the mirror because of her obsession with uncovering Experiment 27. She closes the bathroom's light with her towel, wrapping around the body, soaked at the butt and goes back to her bedroom.

* * *

 _At this point, I get to know more deeply with Misty Kasumi, my past life and my alternate universe of me. I still can't quite grasp how I managed to get into their minds, but that idea is becoming the backdoor idea as I think of it less often. As usual, we sit down in our respective circles. Mrs. Kasumi is quite surprised to see that I met her daughter last night. I only smirk once. The other Misty brings out some of her Pokémon she obtained so far. Since at my timeline have the ban on catching Pokémon is impose, I don't have any knowledge of patting some Pokémon. Luckily, she is there for me and I got it pretty easily. Mrs. Kasumi joined in as well._  
     _"Is this all Water-type Pokémon?" I asked her._  
     _"Not all of them. I have a few non-Water types Pokémon like Psyduck here, " she answered as she lifts up her Psyduck, in which he is very annoyed of her lifting it up. So, she let him go. As we are distracted by the Pokémon she gave, a mysterious apparition appears in the corner of my eyes. I got a glimpse of it and tells them of the approaching person. Mrs. Kasumi seems to be fine with it. In fact, she is actually waiting for this person._ _Once I get a clear vision of the face, my eyes are wide open. A familiar face I saw in the files. It's her, ... Misty Goodheart._

 _As Misty G. (to avoid confusion) holds Starmie on her laps, she tells about something urgent especially for me, as I am being the center of it. She warns me that someone is actively trying to disturb me and snatch the file away from me. I am confused at first before she continues to explain, "Someone will try to possess some of your friend (she pointed at me) and steal the files but I don't know who is that person nor who will he or she possess in my timeline."_  
     _I was nervous when she tells me about it. Now, I have a great responsibility to protect the file at all costs. I wasn't prepared for this. Misty G. put her hand (and her faith) on me and tells some inspiring word, "Promise me you won't". I reluctantly agree to protect the file. She will come back into my dream once she got some clue of the person. She raises up and walks into the void, disappears like she was never even there._  
     _'What should I do?"_

Misty realizes that she has reached the point of no return. Now, with that responsibility, she now can't trust everyone, including her closest friend, including May. As Misty contemplating her responsibility, May knocks on the door. She welcomes May in as she still curled herself on her bed. May sits next to her and tells what's wrong. Misty only wants to shut her mouth. Sure, May can be trusted. She knows her all the time. But, as Misty G. had said, maybe that person could possess her without her knowing.  
    "Is it about the file?" asked May.  
    "Yes, but it's more than that," Misty tells about everything from meeting Misty G. to the responsibility she had to keep the file safe. May questioned her for the first time in two months.  
    "Are you really alright, Misty? You're a bit crazy with that whole responsibility and all. I think you should..."  
    "But here's the thing. I feel like I shouldn't trust you at all. And worst of all, it could be anyone or me."  
    "Why are you thinking that? Look, we can go through this together. Okay?" Maybe May is right after all. Besides, she is indeed trustworthy for Misty. A true friend, always by their side no matter how ridiculous the situation she has gotten into. Then, Misty's phone starts to vibrate. She looks at her phone and the notification she gets. A message from Jacob said 'Gary told me that he'll meet us with Brock this afternoon. Do you want to come now or later?' She replies, 'Yeah, bring the others over there.' He replies quickly, 'Ok.'  
    "So, May, are you ready to meet Brock?"  
    "Wait...Brock is here?!"  
    "Well..." 

~•~•~•~

  "To be honest, I am indeed correct that Brock is living here but I did not expect this at all." Jacob's word is true for all of the gang as they look upon a modernistic skyscraper where, according to Gary, Brock works. Of course, their expectations did not reach that high because they thought he could be an employee of whatever company he's working for. In fact, this revelation only squandered a portion of their expectations.

    "Shall we go in?" Gary invites them.  
    "Are you sure about this?" Aria questioned, the first sentence she had spoken for a while. When they enter the building, however, it is indeed normal as expected, except for a large fountain, or rather, a mechanism of waterfall projector that advertise some of their product, which is quite nice. The next thing they knew, they asked the receptionist for a 'little visit'.  
    "Name?"  
    "Brock. Brock Harrison."  
    "I'm sorry but Mr. Harrison is currently unavailable right now. You should have a scheduled appointment with him later."  
    "Pardon me but Mr. Harrison?"  
    "You don't know? Mr. Brock Harrison, the CEO of Hytech Technology corporation? Do you even know him at all?" Even the title 'CEO' makes Misty's jaw drop. Never would she expected Brock to be the CEO of this massive company. That's a lot of the responsibility to take, but based on the situation, he's doing really fine. May and Gary come over to them after a minute too long to check if they got the time to visit him. As soon as they come, the receptionist recognized Gary right off the bat, stunned Misty, May, and Jacob.  
    "Hello, Diana, How's the day today?" Gary charmingly flirts the receptionist. 'Oh boy, ' Misty rolled her eyes and sighed. Somehow, he managed to persuade her for a visit with Brock. May quickly tells Aria and Sam about it and by their reaction, they seem excited to see.  
    As they waited in the lounge room, they overheard the conversation between Brock, who has just arrived, and his assistant, in which one of his wishes is fulfilled, who is a woman (Well, he did it!). When Brock opened the door, he is indeed and unsurprisingly shocked to see Misty, May, and Gary once again. He quickly launches toward Misty and May, and hugs them tightly, while saying, "I miss you guys so much." Tear-jerking indeed. Too bad Ash and Red can't come today to visit Brock in his work. May introduces Brock to Sam, Aria, and Jacob since they are the new face of the group.  
    "I see the interview with Evelyn. I am quite surprised that you have a popularity for your writing. How's been for both of you? How do you meet each other again?" Brock missed them really much, hence why he tells them so many questions about what happened to them after high school graduation. Misty tells him everything from how they unexpectedly met during the exchange program to everything up until that point.  
    "I am indeed impressed that you come with far success " Brock compliments her.  
    "Thanks, Brock. I really appreciate that. But some credit also goes to May as well." Sam is feeling uncomfortable again, especially when Misty is interacting with Brock. I guess Sam still hasn't shaken off his feeling. In the meantime, Sam's uneasy aura becomes intense when Brock asks Misty, and only Misty, to meet him at his office. Misty naively agrees to go with him, which makes Sam moves his butt constantly because of him being unease about Brock's offer.  
    Once they left, Sam spoke about his feeling of uncertainty toward Brock but Gary brushed it off by telling him that Brock wanted to talk to Misty and he's jealous. "It's not that, it just something bad may or may not happening to Misty right now, " Sam stated his suspicion. In the meantime, Brock leads Misty to his office. His office is much spacious and filled with the usual office stuff. Misty peeks on the window and looks directly below the road. It goes so high up that the people in this perspective where it looks like a thin rectangular bar (with a smooth edge).   
    "Brock, how did you have the states of CEO?" Misty asked Brock, considering Brock is only 22 when he took on the rank of CEO (Brock is four years older than Misty and the rest of the gang), which is two years ago. What even more surprising is he managed to keep the company afloat despite his young age. I guess all of the learning about business does worth it.  
    "Well, I was the secretary of the previous CEO. Before he's retired, he told all of his trustworthy staff, including me. All of us were shocked when he announced that I will be the new CEO. I initially denied his request but he convinced me to do it."  
    "Wow!"  
    "But it is meant to be temporary as I should hold this title until someone finds another person who is worthy of his true successor since he does not have a child to be his next successor. For now, I am now a CEO."  Their conversation takes a full two minutes before they're reached the conclusion. Misty thanks Brock for the time and goes to the door. By then, all of the gang are waiting for Misty to come up.  
    "Wait! I have a little gift for all of you in part for Gary." Brock then goes to his desk and pulls out a group of fancy shopping bags. He gives each of them a bag with their name since Gary did inform the receptionist to buy gifts once he arrived back. Of course, despite him being rich, he always goes on a budget to prevent overspending. 

  They couldn't believe what happened in front of their eyes once they return. The apartment has been ransacked, leaving a trail of messiness back. Aria and Jacob had left to report the incident to the principal while Misty, May, and Sam look around the apartment if any of the items. Oddly, none of their value is still intact but Misty's fear has come to fruition. The files have gone. Someone has stolen the file while they were gone. Who could do such a thing? Immediately, they run down the list of suspects but ran into a roadblock. Except for them and, presumably Mrs. Birch since she is well aware of Misty's power, no one that they know has any knowledge of the files.

    It won't be Mrs. Birch since she is too far away to snatch it and knows that Misty is destined to be...well...that. June is off the list since she is working at this time. While Misty and May pick things up, Sam notices a note taped underneath her desk and took it. Soon, Aria, Jacob and the principal arrive at their apartment.  
    "Is anybody ok? Is anything stolen?" said the principal.  
    "My files! All of them are stolen!" Misty told.  
    "Who could have done this?"  
    "Maybe this person who wrote this note I found." Sam hands the note to the principal for him to see. The note states a little demand for Misty in exchange for the files. It read;

* * *

_I have your file, Misty. For this, I want your necklace in exchange for the file. If you follow my compliance, meet me at this location stated in the note. If not, expect a nice picture in front of your doorstep._

_34, Madeline St. & 6th Maverick Ave._

**_DON'T BE LATE!_ **

* * *

    Although the threat seems idiotic enough since this person only took her files, Misty's worried reaction meant the person takes his/her threat very seriously. The principal calls the police to inform about the theft happened and the threat note. He reassured Misty and May that the police will take care of the situation. For Misty, however, this isn't enough. She had let her guard down and pays the price. 'What should I do?' she asked herself.  
    She feels uneasy right now. Despite her best to complete her story, she lost concentration until she slams the table in frustration. May look over, worried for Misty's well-being because of her promise with Misty G. She thought to herself, maybe they were both crazy and obsessed with the mysterious experiment that may come out as a long thought out plan. Not only that, she felt like her older sister, which makes sense because she is a first-born child while Misty is the youngest among her siblings.  
    "Misty, are you okay?" she asked.  
    "I'm fine, " Misty responded rudely and angrily.  
    "You're not fine at all. You..."  
    "I say I'm fine, May!"  
    "Misty, we need to talk about this."  
    "About what?! Can you please get out of here?!"  
    "But..."  
    "Get out!" Misty yelled. May moves away from the door. She clearly heard Misty screams in anger and louder thump to her table repeatedly. At this point, May can't do anything to her but to wait for Misty to calm down. Then, she heard a knocking on the front door. She quickly comes to the door and opens to see who it is. Shockingly, it is Aria and Sam who knocks on the door. May welcomes both of them into the living room. All of them look worried about Misty. As she let another outburst of frustration, Aria speaks to May that she needs to let go of it or else she may hurt herself in the long run.  
    "Even if I try, she won't let go of it. I'm afraid that she might succumb to her obsession when I let it slide. I need to do something to stop this but also wouldn't hurt her."  
    "But didn't you also enthusiastic about the 'experiment'?"  
    "I was until Misty grew it into an obsession."  
    "What should we do?" Then, May smacks her hand because she has an idea.

    Misty is puzzled by the set of cameras places all over the place, particularly in her bedroom. May tells her that she sets up the cameras in order to catch the thief. This, of course, is a lie. May doesn't want to lie to Misty at all but she had no other option. Her true intention is to prove Misty that all of this is an elaborated prank by the person who left the 'threat' note. Misty is, naively enthusiastic as she can catch the thief and demand him/her to return the file at once.  
    May also asks Misty if she could sleep with her so she can look after her. Misty agrees, oblivious to the fact that she needs her to agree because she wants to see it first-hand in her eyes. That night, both of them completed their assignment and their writing work. May comes back to Misty's bedroom after completed the article. There, May slips into the blanket while Misty has already prepared to sleep.  
    "It's been a long time since we have a sleepover, " said Misty.  May only smiles in nostalgia as she thinks back to her childhood memories back at Pallet Town. For example, the time where Misty and Ash had to kiss each other for a 'Dare' during middle school. They were too young and inexperienced with a love relationship at that time. May doesn't know why she remembers that particular moment but she didn't tell Misty about that to this day, probably because she's too embarrassed to even think about it.  
    "Don't worry about the file for now. Maybe we could catch the thief as soon as possible."  
    "Thanks, May."  
    "For what?"  
    "Thanks for being with me from the beginning and supported me." May only smirk In guilt as Misty closes the table lamp and began to sleep. May think deeply about her thank you word. She still believes that May still is with her despite the fact that it is otherwise. And now, she feels nothing but guilt for lying to Misty, putting her into a dilemma. Should she continue with the lies to make her happy or risk their friendship by telling the truth? For now, she puts the dilemma in rest so she could see who's behind all this.

* * *

 _Do you remember the time when we were young? The time where we played on the field? I remember your smile, as cheerful as your innocence, and your giggle that lightens a cold heart. It was sunny, like the usual summer day. The rest were minding their own business, leaving us alone to play in the field. We were barefooted at that time, so I remember the soft summer ground. We touched the long, yellowish, as gold as the summer sun, paddy as if these would be the last. Misty, how I cannot remember your giggle and your innocence smile. And now, it only seems like yesterday when we left Pallet Town. After all this, why don't we go back to the town for the sake of nostalgia?_  
     _May...are you consider me as...a sister? To be honest, I wish I have a sister I can rely on, someone like you. You've been with me through highs and lows of our childhood. A guardian when I'm feeling down and sad with a healthy dose of motherly advice. You actually inspired me to write in the first place but I'm too shy to say it. May, have you ever have a friend who is more than being loyal? Why are we became friends despite our background? Tell me._

 _We were waiting for Misty G. for our 'meeting'. The alternate Misty has now become a full-time Water-type trainer in her family gym. Both Misty K. and I congratulate her for the massive achievement. Then, we heard a clap coming from a distance. But we already know that it was Misty G. because there wasn't any person I know that randomly appear. Soon, the smile wears down and replaces with a frown as I have to tell her the news. But, apparently, Misty G. has known about that as if she has a sixth sense. She kneels down and lifts my chin up. "We can get the files back. You don't have to be concern about that for now." Oddly, she looks up to the direction behind me and anonymously says, "But you can't do it unless with a helping hand of a friend." I looked back and shocked by what I see._  
    " _May? Is that you?" May runs closer to me. I rose up while May lunges toward me for a hug and I held her tight._  
    " _Misty, I'm so glad you're alright. What is this place?" Now that she mentioned it, how did she managed to get into her mind? Sure, she slept beside me, but that doesn't mean that she can appear in my dream._  
    " _This is my mind you're entering. Oh, I wish I could have time to introduce all of them."_  
    " _To make it simple, I'm Misty Goodheart, the grown-up over there is Misty Kasumi and the girl is Misty's alternate reality." May's confused face really establishes an awkward mood. I had to clear up in order for her to fully understand. After the dust has settled, we sat down on the circle while Misty G. explained a little secret about the files_ (oh boy, here comes the old, boring, insignificant explanation of the plot of the entire anthology series for the sake of plot of this fic). No (3X). Don't worry, I won't explain it at all. (You sure?)  Yes, I am sure.  
    " _Wait, you say that all of this because someone lost his daughter?"_  
    " _There's more than that."_

_May and I were left clueless despite knowing the details in the files. And now, I feel like we were just scratching the surface of this loophole. After the rest have left, it was me and May alone to ourselves. As we were ready to wake up, May asked a simple question, "What if we go back to Pallet Town for the end semester's holiday?" I couldn't back down that offer. I, too, missed Pallet Town so much, especially Mom. I wonder how's the town will look like after we left. I replied with a modest 'Sure'._

* * *

**It was dark. There was a light below the gaps of the door, illuminated from the still-lit living room. The shades have been closed, leaving a few parallel bluish lights. Star sat down on a journal, given to her by her mother, Misty Kasumi. The bedroom posed a serene mood. Then, a bright oval rip spawns behind her but she oddly unbothered by the sudden presence. A person steps out of the rip and looks around.**  
     **"I see that you're only interested in my mother's journal that holds many secrets."**  
     **"How did..." Star rose up from her chair while carrying the journal. She unexpectedly passed her mother's possession to a random stranger but she puts her trust in the mysterious person. She places her hand on the stranger's shoulder and advises them, "Promise me to take care of Misty for me. Promise that you will fix this mess before It could consume the fabric of the entire universe." The stranger nods and enters the rip again. Soon, Star closes the table lamp and the light from the living room before returning to sleep.**

If you think this story has gone from a typical slice of life modern/college AU fic into a full-on Avengers sized stories of random characters entangled in a mess and they indirectly involved to stop this madness, then, yes, I agree with you.

_End of Chapter 11_


	12. Pallet Town

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> May checks over the camera that she left in order to prove that someone is messing with her. However, what actually caught on camera is far stranger than expected. When Misty looks at the footage, she goes back to the desk, only to discover a strange device only came from science fiction.  
> Outside, Sam, Jacob, and Aria are shocked to see Mosty's files appear in front of her doorstep when they arrived, placed there by a mysterious man. When they entered, Dawn called up on the phone and made a little revelation. Misty's DNA from the spit doesn't match with the feather but some of it matches the sample of the creature found long ago.  
> For the holiday, the gang, alongside Brock, Ash, and Red, decides to go back to Pallet Town. After staying at a motel and arrived, they are surprised to see tourist walking all around the town because of Misty's and May's interview with Evelyn. Things goes unexpected when Misty and May had to run away from a mob of tourist chasing after them. At last, they ends the day with a group photo, reminiscing the last photo of Pallet Gang before separation.

    The rain has showered the street of Viridian City. The exams inches closer to its deadline. Many students were crunching their free time in studying their past lessons, including Misty and May. They had to postpone the study date at the café due to unfavorable weather. In the meantime, Misty updates her followers via Twitter that the release of the next chapter will be delayed in order for her to focus on her studies. Suffice it to say, everyone respected and supported her decision.  
    May examines the footage captured by the camera last night. It is a bit hard to see despite recorded in night vision mode. Then, something unexpected happened. Two hours after they sleep soundly, a portal-like rip opens and a stranger came out of it. The strangers open a drawer, places something inside the drawer and closes it before returning back into the portal. May is left perplexed by the footage. Coincidentally, Misty was checking in May when she looked at the footage.  
    "What's wrong?" asked Misty. May looked at Misty before handed over the camera. Once she sees the footage, she is as shocked as May was a few seconds ago. In the meantime, Sam, Aria, and Jacob are about to approach the corridor when they see a mysterious man stands in front of the door. He bends down and places something on the floor. Then, he quietly left the scene, colliding with Jacob when he passes by them.  
    When they arrive at the door, they found something shocking, Misty's files. Coincidentally, Misty opens the door at the same time as the gang looks into the files. They group up on the couch, discussing the man they spotted and the sudden appearance of the files. In the meantime, like May and Misty, Sam and Aria are both confused by the footage caught on camera.  
    "I thought this is some kind of joke, " said Sam.  
    "How about now? Can you really explain this?" May asked. Misty came back from her bedroom and she holds an item on her hands, a strange-looking gadget that only works in sci-fi movies. Based on his movie knowledge, Jacob deduces that it could be either a teleporter or a message device. Suddenly, May's phone starts ringing. She looks to see who's calling.  
    "It's Dawn." She turns on the speaker so they could listen to Dawn as she explained something.  
    " _Is this on speaker right now?_ "  
    "Yes. What brings you here?"  
    " _Ok, so I have finished analyzing the feather that you gave me a few days ago. Here's the result. Misty's DNA doesn't match with the feather, which is odd. How did you get this feather again?_ "  
    "I cough it up in my dream and then it carries over to the real world, " Misty explained.  
    " _But then, I take a sample of the corpse of the creature and I found something shocking._ "  
    "What is it exactly? Tell us!" Aria exclaimed, which surprised the gang, particularly May, as she is never really interested in this kind of stuff.  
    " _I found Misty's DNA in my sample of the creature. Oddly, when I took another sample, I can't find any similarities with Misty's DNA. Either I got a lucky break or her DNA somehow mixed up with the DNA of the other creature._ "  
    "Is there another thing that is worth asking?"  
    " _Not really_."  
    "Well, thanks tor calling. See you later then." As May puts down her phone, another ring is heard, this time from Misty. She takes the call and shocks to hear Lily's voice. She asked her what's wrong. Lily tells Misty that Mom is still waiting for her to come home. Misty informs her that she will come home after the semester's final exam. They both say goodbye before Misty closes her phone.  
    "Who is that?" Jacob asked.  
    "It's one of my older sisters, Lily. She only calls because she is worried about not coming home for my mom's birthday. To be honest, I am really missing them since I left Pallet Town, particularly Mom." Only a tiny smirk left on Misty's face before she goes back to her bedroom.

* * *

    The classroom was tense with all of the students focusing on the test. Then, the timer rings, meaning that the final paper is over for the last time. Everybody breathes a sigh of relief but still fearful about the result. For now, it is over. Now, it's time for relaxation as the three-weeks end semester holiday has come again. Everybody has preparation for what to do during the holiday, including Misty. Now, it is time to go home.  
    There will be three vehicles for this road trip. Misty and May would be driving in Misty's luxurious Porsche. Brock, Gary, and Jacob, who is handpicked by Brock himself, will be following them behind in a Rolls Royce. The rest will be driving behind the pack with Ash's semi-crappy van. Luckily, Pallet Town is located just off the highway that connected the Kanto and Johto region, so they could drive on the highway until they reached the exit. For safety measurement, Misty turns on her GPS pre-installed in her Porsche.  
    They stop to fill up gas and take some rest because it is a long ride home. In the meantime, someone calls May and she answers it. Not surprisingly, Dawn decides to call May again, which is a nuisance for now. Well, she asked May if they come to Pallet Town for the end semester holiday. May only informs Dawn that they are on their way. They have to stay at a motel for a night before they could continue the journey. Everybody has fallen asleep, all except Misty and May. Their room still lit up as they are busy with their respective work. Under her pseudonym 'Wendy Rose', May have finished her article and about to asleep when Misty tells her something,  
    "May. Did you implicitly say something when we were in my mind?"  
    "No, why?"  
    "I heard you want to go back to Pallet Town in my mind."  
    "Why would I say that? Of course, we haven't go back there for probably a long time. You know what, let's sleep in for the night and we talk about this later." Misty is left perplexed as May tucks into the blanket to sleep. Misty only thinks of something to let the question off her mind for a while. So, she slips out of the blanket and searches inside her luggage. May, awoken from the noise, tells Misty to just go to sleep before Misty goes back to bed with her notebook and pencil box. Probably frustrated by her, May sits upright while asking what is she writing in the middle of the night.  
    After a few minutes of writing and rubbing, Misty writes down a little poem in her notebook. May reads it aloud. She is impressed by the writing although she does agree with Misty that the poem needs some improvement but a good one nonetheless. Misty places the notebook and the pen on the cupboard next to her and closes the light, ready to go to sleep. May follows suite as they are ready to go back to Pallet Town the next day.  
   Aria wakes up first as she rehearses a passage on a piece of paper. She paces up and down while rehearsing it over and over. May, who also woke up at that time, open to see who is making that footstep, only to discover that it was Aria. She only said 'Hello' to the half-asleep May before continuing memorizing the passage. She walks back down to her room while May left standing there, unsure of what is she memorizing for.  
   Everyone had taken a shower and pack all of the belongings as they continue on with the journey. Luckily, Pallet Town isn't far from the motel, so they should be arrived, according to Ash on the behalf of Red, at least by 3:25 p.m. or less. While in the van, Aria kept looking at the paper while rehearsing it silently. Ash notices her strange behavior and asks what is she reading. His question broke her concentration but she remains quiet for the rest of the journey. At last, they have reached the sign saying, 'Welcome to Pallet Town!', which means they are here. Misty and May, who were at the front of the pack, are shocked at the condition of the town  
   Pallet Town is very different than before, as tourists from different regions flock this sleepy town. Where ever they go, they will see at most, a group of tourists walking down the street. Even Brock is surprised by the sudden influx of tourists. At this point, all three of them go their separate way temporarily. Misty and May park the Porsche out at Misty's mother's house. The rest of the gang goes to the hotel, with varying costs, with Brock having the cool suite. Of course, they all pay without having Brock to be burden with the cost.  
   As Misty and May step out of the Porsche, they were greeted with their respective family members, who welcome them home after two years. Both hug their family because of how much they missed them. Misty drives her car to the driveway and locks her car before joining them into the house. Everything is relatively recognizable for Misty when she left aside from a few changes. Misty goes upstairs to see her bedroom once again and all of her stuff is still there. The waves of nostalgia hit her when she unpacks all of her clothes.  
   May asks his father how did the tourist floods this once sleepy town. "Well, we could say thank both of you for this." It takes May a few minutes to realize something.  _Maybe the interview worked well, after all,_ she thought. As Misty goes down to check on her ill mother and Lily, Caroline, May's mother mentions about Misty's Porsche. She explained how she got the car, which you probably guess by now. Max, who's been quiet throughout the conversation, only said with his baffled noise, "What kind of lottery that offers the prize winner a Porsche?"  
    "Not sure." Misty signals May if they could join her and she agrees to join. She said goodbye to her parents, Max, Lily and Misty's mother before going out with Misty to tour around Pallet Town. As Misty reversed the car out of the car, May opens the glove compartment to places her makeup inside. They drive off to the waterfront, which was now flooded with tourists sunbathing and playing. It is summer, so everything makes sense. Misty parks her Porsche into an empty parking space, which makes some of the tourists amazed.  
    When they got off the car, suddenly, they have amassed a huge crowd, probably delighted to see Misty and May face-to-face. What was supposed to be a calm stroll around the waterfront turns into a parade of people following them as if they were paparazzi, despite their only career is about writing. As the crowd grew larger, Misty and May scurry away from the crowd to avoid them.

* * *

   In the meantime, Aria is still rehearsing the speech in her paper but grew frustrated when she slips her word. Sam and Jacob, who is in the room with her, ask her what is she practice memorizing it. "Well, it's for the competition I'm participating in. I have to memorize this until the competition." Sam peeks at the paper and it is a daunting task, as there are many intricate and complex wordings in the passage, and she has to memorize it before the competition, which is two weeks from now, according to Aria.  
   "Well, why don't you relaxed for a while? That may help you feel better, " Jacob advised.  
   "I can't. I'm too stressed to memorized this long speech, especially when the deadline is closing in."  
   "Aria, I guess it's reasonable to relax. You don't want to feel stressed out too much, " Sam soothes her. Aria considers the advice for a while. She then folded her paper and places it in the drawer. With a bright smile, she said, "Alright, I guess it's time to relax for a while." After Aria leaves the bedroom, both Sam and Jacob look at each other with a smile on both of them. A little high-five before leaving the room as well (and closes it).  
   Brock has already in the lobby, waiting for the rest when suddenly, Ash and Red came to him. He asks what's wrong. Ash tells them that Misty and May are having trouble at the waterfront. Brock said "What?!" in disbelief and run off to help them. Once they arrived at the waterfront, which is nearer to the hotel they are staying, Brock is shocked to see a huge crowd pursuing Misty and May. Even they reached next to them, Misty and May are too busy to escape from the crowd until they didn't see Ash, Red, and Brock standing there.  
    Sam, Jacob, and Aria arrive at the waterfront as well, only to see Ash, Red, and Brock standing still while looking to the east. Sam asked them what's going on. Red only points to the general direction of where they looking. Aria, Sam, and Jacob look at where Red is pointing. Sam can practically tell it was Misty and May who's in trouble judging by the crowd.

    After a while, Misty and May have escaped from the crowd by hiding behind the restroom. Both of them were exhausted and tired from running away. Misty walks to the sink and washed her face up while May stands next to her, huffing and exhaling her breath until it calmed down. Someone flushed the toilet in the stall next to them and goes out from the stall. Misty and May are stunned so much, they can't break the gaze to the person away. Why? Well, by the God of Coincidence, Dawn, of all people, came out of the stall and washed up her hand (with soap), oblivious with Misty and May stare at them. Once Dawn sees them, she only nonchalantly replies, "How it's been?"  
    "We're fine, " Misty answered. "When did you arrived here?"  
    "Yesterday. Let me guess, a mob of your so-called fan chased you to here." They only nod their heads. As Dawn wipes her wet hands with tissues, Misty goes to the toilet for 'woman's private time', leaving May standing still. Dawn hands her a USB to May as she walks out of the restroom. She whispers to May, "Don't show this to anyone other than Misty and you." The message arouses curiosity for May as to wonder what is so special about the file in this USB she's holding. She places the USB into her purse as Misty comes out of the stall, looking fresh after the 'woman's private time'. They go out of the restroom with Dawn tagging along.

    They return to the hotel where the rest of the gang was waiting for them. After a group hug for Dawn, they stroll around the waterfront until they reach the lighthouse. Ash proposed to take the picture of the new 'Pallet Gang' just like before. Red has a similar idea to Ash's as he quickly takes out his camera as he always does. While he sets up the tripod, everyone scrambles to pick up their position until they are satisfied with it. Of course, they left a gap for Red as well. After sets up the camera, he presses the button to start the timer and runs toward the empty gap and posed as well.  _1\. 2. 3. Click!_ With the bright flash, the photo is taken.  
    After the picture was taken, they said farewell to Dawn as they are returned to the hotel. The sun is down on the horizon, giving a bright orange sky above, perfect for a romantic date. Misty and Ash were once again in the front of the pack, chattering privately away from anyone. It's no stranger that these two are fall in love with each other, for now at least. The same can be said for May and Red. With a little help from Aria, as May isn't well versed in sign language, they are able to 'communicate' with each other, albeit with third-party involvement.

* * *

    Misty and May return to the Porsche, which luckily hasn't stolen yet (Phew!), and drives back to their house. While driving home, May asked a little question, "Are we fall in love with somebody we like?" An unusual question for someone who is characteristically being helpful to others. Misty only smirks with a little grunt (while also looking at the street because of safety reasons) before answering vaguely, "I guess we really are."  
     _Your words couldn't be anymore truer than this,_ Misty talks to herself.

_End of Chapter 12_


End file.
